Book A/ 

Copyright^ 0 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



1 



v 



HISTORIC SKETCH 



Reformed Church 



North Carolina 



BY 

A Board of Editors under 
The Classis of North Carolina. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

The Late Geo. Wm. Welker, D.D. 



Philadelphia, Pa. : 
Publication Board of the Reformed Church in the United States. 



|LjBRARY of OONtfHEsS 
*j 1 wo Copies Keuiiv jd 

MAH 231908 



Copyright 1908 
By the 

North Carolina Classis of the Reformed Church 
in the United States. 



DEDICATION. 



TO THE LOVING MEMORY OF OUR DECEASED BRETHREN IN THE 
MINISTRY AND LAITY, PIONEERS OF THE REFORMED CHURCH 
IN THE SOUTHLAND, WHOSE LIVES AND SERVICE 
MAKE THIS RECORD POSSIBLE, THIS HISTORY 
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. 



Preface. 



NO history of North Carolina, adequately setting 
forth her political, social, religious and indus - 
trial career, and her vast material resources, has yet 
been written. The various religious organizations 
have each made valuable contributions for such a 
work in their several denominational histories. These 
sketches are intended to add to these contributions, 
as well as to acquaint our own people with the lives 
and deeds of their ancestors. The Classis of North 
Carolina has for many years moved in this matter, 
and at her annual sessions at High Point, May 4, 1904, 
she resolved to commit the work to a committee, with 
Rev. Jacob C. Clapp, D.D., as editor-in-chief; Rev. 
Jacob C. Leonard, D.D., assistant, and Rev. John A. 
Foil, Ph.D., Rev. Paul Barringer, D.D., Rev. Calvin 
B. Heller, A.M., and Rev. Joseph L. Murphy, D.D., 
associate editors, and Rev. William B. Duttera, Ph.D., 
business manager. Further, it was resolved that all 
moneys accruing from the sale of the book, above the 
cost of publishing, shall be placed in the hands of the 
treasurer of Classis, and shall be used to assist mission 
charges within the bounds of Classis. The following 
pages are the fruit of this committee's efforts, assisted 
by the pastors of the various charges. It is peculiarly 
appropriate that an extract from Rev. Dr. G. William 

(5) 



6 



Preface. 



Welker's account of " Early German Reformed Settlers 
in North Carolina/' Vol. VIII., p. 727, Colonial Records 
of North| Carolina ; should introduce this work. Rev. 
Dr. Welker did more than all other men had done to 
rescue from oblivion the existence, piety and heroism 
of a people most worthy to live in the minds of com- 
ing generations. It is also equally appropriate that 
the book be dedicated to the pioneer preachers and 
laymen, to whose faith, zeal and constancy we are 
indebted for the founding and perpetuation in this 
wilderness of the "New World/' those altars on which 
has been kept burning the fire of the Reformation for 
one hundred and fifty years. |glk 

— The Editors. 



Contents. 



PAGE 

Chapter I. Early German Reformed Settlements in 

North Carolina 11 

Chapter II. Prior to the Organization of Classis. . 22 

Chapter III. Following the Organization of Classis . 49 

1. The First Meeting of Classis 49 

2. The Classis in Growth 53 

3. The Centenary Celebration 59 

4. Work Among the Colored People 61 

5. The Church Paper and Literary Institutions 62 

6. Revival and Campmeetings and Moral Institutions 67 

7. Withdrawal from Synod 69 

8. The Civil War Period 72 

9. Special Objects of Benevolence 78 

10. Catawba College 86 

11. A Home Church Paper 96 

12. The Records of Classis 98 

13. Delegate Elders 100 

14. The Ministers of the Classis 103 

15. Annual Meetings of the Classis 113 

Chapter IV. The Eastern Group of Churches 117 

1. the Brick Church, Guilford County 117 

2. Stoner's Church, Alamance County 134 

3. Barton Church, Randolph County 135 

4. Mt. Hope Church, Guilford County 136 

5. St. Mark's Church, Alamance County 144 

6. Burlington Church 146 

7. Fairview Church, Whitsett 149 

8. First Church, High Point 151 

9. Bethel Church, High Point 153 

10. First Church, Greensboro 154 

(7) 



8 Contents. 

PAGE 

11. Pilgrim Church, Davidson County 156 

12. Beck's Church, Davidson County 169 

13. Bethany Church, Davidson County 172 

14. Beulah Church, Davidson County 176 

15. Emanuel Church, Davidson County 178 

16. Hebron Church, Davidson County 179 

17. Mt. Carmel Church, Davidson County 184 

18. Mt. Tabor Church, Davidson County 184 

19. Jerusalem Church, Davidson County 185 

20. Hedrick's Grove Church, Davidson County 185 

21. Calvary Church, Davidson County 186 

22. Heidelberg Church, Thomasville 188 

23. First Church, Lexington 189 

24. Second Church, Lexington 191 

Chapter V. The Central Group of Churches 193 

1. Grace Church, Rowan County 193 

2. Cold Water and Gilead Church, Cabarrus County. . 202 

3. Mt. Zion Church, Rowan County 210 

4. Bethel Church, Stanly County 215 

5. Shiloh Church, Rowan County 219 

6. St. Paul's and Mt. Hope Church, Rowan County... 226 

7. St. Luke's Church, Rowan County 228 

8. Trinity Church, Concord 230 

9. St. Paul's Church, Enochville 232 

10. Bethany Church, Crescent 233 

11. St. James' Church, Mt. Pleasant 235 

12. Faith Church, Salisbury 237 

13. Ursinus Church, Rockwell 239 

14. Boger Church, Rowan County 240 

15. Keller Church, Cabarrus County 241 

Chapter VI. The Western Group of Churches 243 

1. St. Paul's Church, Catawba County 243 

2. Daniel's Church, Lincoln County 248 

3. Grace Church, Catawba County 264 

4. Emanuel Church, Lincolnton 273 

5. Salem Church, Lincoln County 278 



Contents. 9 

PAGE 

6. St. John's Church, Catawba County 285 

7. Smyrna Church, Catawba County 287 

8. St. Matthew's Church, Lincoln County 288 

9. Grace Church, Newton 303 

10. Friendship Church, Alexander County 310 

11. Bethel Church, Catawba County 312 

12. Corinth Church, Hickory 315 

13. Mt. Bethel Church, Blowing Rock 321 

14. Memorial Church, Maiden 323 

15. Trinity Church, Conover 326 

16. Zion's Church, Lenoir 326 



List of Illustrations. 

Editor and Assistant Frontispiece 

Associate Editors and Business Manager 17 

Early Ministers 63 / 

Nazareth Orphans' Home 85 

Catawba College 91 

Brick Church 119 1 

Pilgrim Church 157 - 

St. Matthew's Arbor 171/ 

Beck's Church 171 

Lower Stone Church 199 - 

St. Paul's Church 245 

Daniel's Church 255 

Claremont College 321 



Historic Sketch of the Reformed Church 
in North Carolina. 



CHAPTER I. 

Early German Reformed Settlements in North 
Carolina. 
By Rev. G. William Welker, D.D. 

(The Germans in North Carolina. — From the 4 ' Colonial Records of 
North Carolina.") 

IT has been the misfortune of the Germans who at 
an early date settled in North Carolina, not to 
have an historian at a time when it was yet possible 
to collect the facts relating to their immigration into 
this colony. Records there are few, and only such as 
may be found in patents and deeds for land, in the 
Department of State at Raleigh, and in the several 
oldest county records where they located their homes. 
It seems as if they never supposed that it would be of 
any interest to any of their posterity, or the general 
public of the State, to know who they were, whence 
they came or what part they had in laying the founda- 
tion for the future character and greatness of the State. 
Even the records of their several churches are so scant 
and imperfect, or by neglect have been lost, to a de- 
gree that they afford but little material at this time 

(11) 



12 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



from which to collect any satisfactory account of their 
origin, or the names of those who were astir in this 
work. Most that now can be ascertained is gleaned 
from the lingering tradition that still hovers about 
the old houses of worship and over the graves of the 
venerable dead who in the wilderness reared these 
monuments to God and their faith. To the work of 
collecting facts and dates years have been given with 
only limited success. All diligence has been given as 
to the correctness of the statements, and traditions 
have been compared to get the truth, yet it is possible 
some errors may be found in this record of a people 
whose character and work should be rescued from 
oblivion. 

The German immigration to America grew out of 
the fearful results of the thirty-years war, that had 
desolated their native land and made existence there 
intolerable. After this came the French invasion of 
the Rhine territory. By this the grand home of the 
Palatines, who were Protestants, was made a home- 
less waste. For these sufferers the new world opened 
up an asylum. William Penn gave the heartiest and 
freest invitation to his colony. Queen Anne, of Eng- 
land, offered a refuge and means of succor. Thousands 
left their native land by way of England to reach a 
home in the wilderness. Most of these were aided to 
reach the colony of Pennsylvania, which, for a time, 
seemed to become largely Germanized. Among them 
were also Huguenots (French Protestants), who, on 
the revocation of the edict of Nantes, had fled to 
Germany, and now came with their co-religionists to 
America. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 13 

This influx of Germans, Swiss and French into Penn- 
sylvania began about 1707. Many had come over 
previous to this, and as early as 1682. During the 
period from 1725 to 1775 the archives of the colony of 
Pennsylvania record the names of more than 30,000 
males over the age of sixteen who landed at the port 
of Philadelphia. It is from this colony that the Ger- 
man immigrants to North Carolina, to a great extent, 
came. A colony of Palatines and Swiss founded New 
Berne, in 1710, whose history may be had in any 
North Carolina history. We shall confine ourselves 
to the immigrants from the colony of Pennsylvania to 
the Carolinas. The most valuable lands in Pennsyl- 
vania east of the Alleghenies were taken up. The 
Proprietors of Carolina offered very advantageous 
terms to settlers. The resources of salubrious climate 
and unrivaled fertility of soil, that made it a very 
paradise, soon attracted these industrious people 
hither. At this time one-third of the population of 
the province of Pennsylvania were Germans. Their 
overflow into North Carolina was so profuse that in 
1785 the Germans from Pennsylvania alone numbered 
upward of 15,000. Of the 30,000 names given in the 
State Archives of Pennsylvania, a very large number 
can be found to-day among the Germans of North 
Carolina, and one who goes from the region populated 
by Germans in North Carolina to Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania will find almost every familiar name in the 
counties of Berks, Schuylkill, Northampton, Lebanon, 
Dauphin, etc., in that State. 

The territory in which the Germans settled in North 



14 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Carolina was largely that which is now embraced in 
the counties of Alamance, Guilford, Randolph, David- 
son, Forsyth, Stokes, Rowan, Cabarrus, Stanly, Lin- 
coln, Gaston, Catawba and Burke. Pennsylvania cer- 
tainly contributed, in her German and Scotch-Irish 
emigrants, a valuable population to this colony. They 
were a widely different people from those that Ger- 
many now sends to our large cities. Morse, in his 
" American Universal Geography," in the edition of 
1789, in speaking of the Germans of Pennsylvania, 
says: "The Germans compose about one-quarter of 
the inhabitants of Pennsylvania. They are most 
numerous in the northern part of the city of Philadel- 
phia, and in the counties of Philadelphia, Montgomery, 
Bucks, Dauphin, Lancaster, York and Northampton. 
They consist of Lutherans (who are the most numerous 
sect), Calvinists or Reformed, Moravians, Catholics, 
Mennonites, Tunkers and Zwingfelters, who are a 
species of Quakers. These are all distinguished for 
their temperance, industry and economy. The Ger- 
mans have usually about a fourth of the members of 
the Assembly, and some of them have arisen to the 
first honors of the State and now fill a number of the 
higher offices. Pennsylvania is much obliged to the 
Germans for improvements in agriculture/ ' Rupp 
quotes Governor Thomas as saying: "This Province 
has been for some years the asylum of distressed 
Protestants of the Palatinate and other parts of Ger- 
many, and I believe it may with truth be said that the 
present flourishing condition of it is, in a great meas- 
ure, owing to the industry of these people; it is not 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 15 

altogether the goodness of the soil, but the number 
and industry of the people that make a flourishing 
county." These are the people who have given a 
valuable population to the several counties named, 
and to this day the characteristics of their ancestors 
are still found in their descendants. 

It could be asked, why is it that such valuable citi- 
zens should make so little show in the affairs of 
the State? One reason is given above — their unob- 
trusive character, their devotion to agriculture, their 
industry in making a home. Their ambition did not 
lie in the direction of public affairs. The ambition to 
lead, to rule, to mingle in the conflicts of politics did 
not move in their hearts. But another cause was that 
they were incapacitated for such public service by 
their want of facility in the use of the English language, 
which was necessary for command in the field as well 
as for efficiency in civil and political offices. They 
were ready in those stirring times for any duty of the 
citizen whenever the exigency of affairs called for their 
services. When the Cherokee Indians rose in mur- 
derous revenge, they met the call to repel and drive 
them back. Even from Guilford they marched to 
the aid of the West in that emergency. In the war 
of the Regulation they were in full sympathy with 
those who resisted the oppression, and the Germans 
of Orange and Guilford were in that disastrous fight 
on the Alamance. Yet their common use of a language 
not used in the public business of the State always 
depressed them to subordinate positions. Those who 
came from Pennsylvania all came from schools and 



16 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

churches where the German language was heard. 
Many could neither read nor speak English, or under- 
stand it when spoken by others, and even to-day, in 
the rural districts of those counties from which the 
Germans came to Carolina, they have German schools ; 
preaching is in German. In the homes, a species of 
German, called "Pennsylvania Dutch," is yet spoken, 
and it was this the German ancestors spoke who came 
to Carolina, and was in the eighties used in the homes 
of Davidson and Rowan. Perhaps this, after all, was 
no heavy loss — not to be able to aspire to office and 
direction — but it had a serious effect to weaken the 
churches of German origin, by depleting them of the 
rising generations who were learning to speak and 
understand English. Nevertheless, a few Germans, 
before and during the war of the Revolution, were 
able to make themselves felt in the events happening 
about them: Barringer, of Mecklenberg; Forney, of 
Lincoln, and Cortner (Goertner), of Guilford. 

From the beginning of the German settlements in 
North Carolina, the Reformed and Lutherans were very 
closely allied, and nearly all their churches were union 
churches, where, on alternate Sabbaths, they wor- 
shiped, and this is still the case in a number of con- 
gregations. The members of these churches were 
also greatly intermarried, so that passing from one 
communion to the other never was a difficult question. 
Indeed, they did not make any account of the confes- 
sional differences, and really knew no difference. In 
a paper before the writer, when the two confessions 
agree to unite in the building of a house of worship, 




ASSOCIATE EDITORS AND BUSINESS MANAGER. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 17 

they give as a reason for such union that, " Since we 
are both united in the principal doctrines of Christi- 
anity, we find no difference between us except in name." 
So little account in early days was made of any differ- 
ence that Boger, a student for the ministry in the 
Reformed Church, studied theology under Storch, a 
Lutheran minister. It is also known that this same 
Reverend Storch indoctrinated a class of catechumens 
in the Heidelberg Catechism (the doctrinal symbol of 
the Reformed Church) and confirmed them as members 
of that Church. Our plan is to notice the Reformed 
congregations organized by the German settlers, who 
have aided in giving North Carolina her sturdy and 
honest character. It may be proper to say that, in the 
title deeds for church property, the Reformed Church 
is known as the " Calvin Church" — " German Presby- 
terian Church" — as the " Reformed Evangelical 
Church," as "Dutch Presbyterian" and "Calvinist 
Congregation." These Reformed churches were com- 
posed of members of the Reformed Church in Switzer- 
land, Germany and France, who dissented from 
Luther's doctrine on the Lord's Supper, and were fol- 
lowers of Zwingli and Calvin on this point of sever- 
ance, and held to the Presbyterial (not Presbyterian) 
form of government in the church. Their doctrinal 
symbol is the Catechism of Heidelberg. That these 
Swiss, Palatines and Huguenots were ardently and 
intelligently attached to their faith and religious 
customs, admits of no doubt. There can yet be found 
in old Reformed families the Bibles, catechisms, hymn- 
books, prayer-books and sermons that bear the imprint 



18 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

of publishers in the Fatherland, as also Sauers, of Ger- 
mantown, who so long was the only printer of German 
books in this country. The early German settlers in 
North Carolina not only brought their religious books 
with them, but they had scarcely reared a log cabin 
and cleared a few acres of land, when there was built 
in some accessible place a school-house, that also 
served as a place of worship. After better days, a 
more comfortable house of worship was reared, but 
hard by it the school-house still held its place, where 
the children and youth were by the school-master 
(that ever essential character in every German com- 
munity) taught the rudiments of education in Ger- 
man, the Fatherland tongue. In those early days, 
this people were better supplied with school teachers 
than with ministers of the Gospel. In many cases the 
teacher did duty also as a minister. The immigrants 
from Pennsylvania, in few cases, if any, brought their 
ministers with them, for such was the paucity of 
German ministers in Pennsylvania that none could 
be spared as missionaries from the pressing needs of 
the home field. In this case, those sturdy people were 
wont to meet in their places of worship on the Sab- 
bath, when, after joining in one of those grand and 
inspiring German melodies, some more gifted one 
led them in prayer, then the school teacher read a 
sermon, selected from those of some eminent divine 
of their faith of Colonial or Fatherland fame. The 
great scarcity of ministers among the Germans of 
North Carolina was a great source of anxiety to them, 
for they placed great value upon the sacrament of 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 19 

baptism for their children and on the Lord's Supper 
as a sanctifying means of grace for themselves. This 
opened the way for adventurers and impostors among 
them, and no doubt such turned up among them in 
those early days to preach, catechise and administer 
the ordinances. The Reformed Church in North 
Carolina, so few and so distant from their co-religion- 
ists, were much neglected in this respect. Time and 
again they sent deputations to the Synod in Penn- 
sylvania, but it was only to get temporary aid. How- 
ever, in all these days, and during the war of the 
Revolution, they preserved their identity and main- 
tained their organization until they were received as 
an organized body by the Synod of the Reformed 
Church in the United States, under the title of the 
"Classis of North Carolina." 

In the civil and political history of North Carolina, 
for reasons already given, the Germans have not been 
prominent in the past, and are only now looking up 
in this respect, as the entire German population have 
outgrown the use of the German tongue — in their 
pulpits no longer is it heard, nor have they German 
schools. With their use of the English language they 
are taking a more important part in the affairs of the 
State. Nothing better shows the character and 
patriotism of the Germans of the Reformed Church 
than their conduct when the rally to arms was made 
by the Continental Congress. In all the colonies, a 
full proportion of this people swelled the ranks of the 
patriot army. There were but few who, from a sense 
of mistaken loyalty, refused adhesion to the patriot 



20 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

cause. This spirit of liberty was characteristic with 
those Germans, who, in Switzerland, the Palatinate or 
in France, had suffered for conscience sake, wherever 
they settled in the new world. The instinct of free- 
dom was an inheritance with them. It was the teach- 
ings which those German immigrants to North Caro- 
lina had heard from their ministers ere they left their 
homes in Pennsylvania. There were German regi- 
ments in the Continental army. Baron Steuben was 
an elder in the Reformed Church in Nassau Street, 
New York. Of the Reformed ministers, Weikel, of 
Boehm's Church, in Montgomery County; Weyberg 
and Schlatter, of Philadelphia; Helfenstein, of Lan- 
caster; Hendel, of Lyken's Valley, were ardent patri- 
ots; they led and taught their congregations. Some 
were watched and imprisoned for their outspoken love 
of liberty and the cause of rebellion. General Wash- 
ington made his home with Dr. Herman, the Reformed 
pastor in Germantown, Pennsylvania, for several 
months while his army lay in that vicinity. When 
General Montgomery fell at Quebec, and the friends 
of freedom were filled with profound sorrow for his 
loss, and divided sentiment in the Quaker city made 
it difficult to find a suitable place, the new and beau- 
tiful Race Street Reformed (German) Church was 
opened to Dr. William Smith to pronounce an eulogy 
on his life and services. When General Washington 
was elected President of the United States, the Re- 
formed Coetus (Synod), the highest judicatory of that 
Church in the country, passed resolutions congratu- 
lating him on the event, at their annual meeting in 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



21 



Philadelphia, in 1789, and a copy being sent to him, 
the General replied, expressing his great gratification at 
this expression of good will, and invoked on it the most 
earnest wishes for the prosperity of the Reformed 
Church. It could not be that citizens who had been 
trained under such ministers, who had imbibed such 
sentiments, would not, when transferred under the 
liberty-loving influence of North Carolina, be found 
true to their ancestry, and the brethren of a common 
faith. A people that had forsaken all and fled to the 
wilderness, with the hope to enjoy freedom to worship 
God, could not be made the creatures of tyrannical 
government such as that of George III. of ^England. 

At this date, the descendants of these men are 
asserting themselves in all the walks of life in their 
native State. The thousands of this race are to-day 
scattered south and west over this great country, and 
wherever they go, their honesty, industry, law-abiding 
character tell on the character of the community. 
Here at home, too, their names are found now among 
the alumni of the university and our colleges. Among 
those who represent the State in the Congress of the 
United States and in the Legislature of the State, 
quite a number whose descent is from these German 
immigrants may be found. In the roll of the Confed- 
erate army, too, were thousands of these sons of the 
Germans, and among them were those who by bravery 
rose to eminence as Generals, as Hoke, Ramseur and 
others. 

Of these Reformed Churches in North Carolina we 
propose to gather what we can of the founders and 
their history. 



CHAPTER II. 



Prior to the Organization of Classis. 

THE first immigration of the Reformed people to 
North Carolina from the Old World of which 
we have any account was that of the French Protest- 
ants who fled from persecution in their own country. 
They first came to Virginia, and then down into the 
Pamlico section of North Carolina, and located at 
Bath in 1690. Bath was the first town in North 
Carolina, but it never amounted to much, though the 
Legislature met there several times. These people did 
not have a minister with them, and no congregation 
was organized. They were members of the Reformed 
Church of France. 

In 1710 Christopher Graff enreid led a colony of 
Palatines and Swiss to Carolina. He purchased from 
the Lords Proprietors a large tract of land on the 
Neuse River. Under the feudal constitution of the 
time he was made Landgrave of Carolina, and hence 
is known in history as Baron de Graff enreid. The 
town which he founded he called New Berne, in 
honor of Berne in Switzerland. Graffenreid was not 
educated for the ministry, but he was licensed by the 
Bishop of London to read the service to the colonists. 
The colony, unfortunately, came to grief through the 
treachery of the Indians. The town was sacked, a 
large number of the colonists were cruelly murdered, 

(22) 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 23 

and GrafTenreid himself barely escaped with his life, 
under circumstances that made it impossible for him 
to remain in comfort at New Berne. He finally made 
his way back to Switzerland, where he died in 1743. 
The remnants of this colony went into the Presby- 
terian Church, and so were lost to the Reformed 
Church. 

The Reformed Church in South Carolina has a 
history. There are now no Reformed congregations 
in that State, save one in Charleston; but the time 
was when there were many German Reformed people 
and several congregations. Why are there none now? 
The old answer is in point: "The harvest is plentiful, 
but the laborers are few." The county or province of 
Saxe-Gotha, S. C, was settled by German and Swiss 
immigrants in 1737. It is a hundred miles or more 
inland from Charleston. The district is now called 
Lexington County. These settlers were nearly all 
members of the German Reformed and Swiss Reformed 
Church. Their first pastor was Rev. Christian 
Theus, a Swiss. He came in the first company of 
immigrants, or soon afterwards. He was educated 
for the ministry, his education having been finished 
before he came to America. But he had not yet been 
ordained to the ministry, and his name is given as a 
"candidatus theological" He was ordained by the 
English Presbyterians, in 1739, as a German Reformed 
minister, and in that same year he began his work as 
pastor of the Reformed and Lutherans in Saxe-Gotha. 

Mr. Theus had a fine education, and his learning and 
piety were highly spoken of. He was a friend of the 



24 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, of the Lutheran Church, and 
entertained him several times on his visits to South 
Carolina. Dr. Muhlenberg obtained from Mr. Theus 
the promise of a written account of the German 
churches which he served in Saxe-Gotha. The Rev. 
Mr. Theus was a faithful man, and no doubt did for 
his friend what he promised. But no such paper 
seems ever to have been found among Dr. Muhlenberg's 
possessions; at least, it has never been published or 
quoted from. It will be a valuable contribution to 
history if it is yet found. Mr. Theus had many thrill- 
ing experiences in those early times of primitive life. 
One of the things that gave him much sorrow and 
anxiety was the wild theory, which has been denomi- 
nated the "Weber Heresy." Jacob Weber claimed to 
be God and Peter Smith claimed to be Christ. At one 
of those wild meetings which Mr. Theus attended, he 
took an open stand against the wickedness. The fol- 
lowers of the fanatics were determined to put him to 
death, either by hanging or drowning. But Mr. Theus 
fled to the river and jumped into a boat there, and had 
a negro to row him across to the other side. 

Services were held in temporary places of worship 
in the first years of the work of Rev. Christian Theus. 
But in 1744 one of his influential members, John 
Jacob Reimenspurger, under a threat that the Ger- 
man settlers would remove to Pennsylvania if some- 
thing was not done to help them, obtained from the 
government five hundred pounds sterling towards the 
building of a Reformed Church. The name of this 
Reformed Church was St. John's, and its location was 
a few miles below the junction of the Broad and 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 25 

Saluda Rivers, near the spot where the grave of Mr. 
Theus is still known to be. The church seems to have 
been destroyed in the Revolutionary war, and was 
likely not rebuilt, as it is not mentioned in the general 
act of incorporation in 1788. This was not the only 
church that Mr. Theus served, for there were many 
other places of worship among the Reformed and 
Lutherans of Saxe-Gotha. Six of the churches served 
by him were still in existence in 1831, when the Classis 
of North Carolina was organized, and reported to that 
body. His labors also extended far beyond the limits 
of Saxe-Gotha into other parts of South Carolina and 
North Carolina, though he was really pastor only in 
Saxe-Gotha. 

The date of the death of Rev. Christian Theus is not 
known, but his grave is pointed out eight miles from 
Columbia. No other graves are marked, but it is 
likely this was originally a cemetery near one of the 
defunct churches served by him. Many years ago a 
stone was erected over the grave by Mr. Abraham 
Geiger. This is very fortunate, for otherwise even 
the place of burial of this faithful Reformed preacher 
would not be known. And, in fact, unless another 
stone is soon erected on the spot, the place will be lost 
sight of, for the present stone sadly shows the marks 
of time, standing as it does in an open cotton field on 
a plantation. The stone contains these sentences: 
"This stone points out where the remains of the Rev. 
Christian Theus lie. This faithful divine labored 
through a long life as a faithful servant in his Mas- 
ter's vineyard, and the reward which he received from 



26 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



many for his labors was ingratitude." He was still 
living in 1789, as he attended the meeting of the 
" Corpus Evangelicum" that year. After that date r 
we have no further information concerning him. 

Rev. Christian Theus was a great and good man, 
and was the first minister among the Swiss and Ger- 
mans of Carolina. If there had been formed a "Coe- 
tus," covering the Carolinas and Georgia, in those 
early years, similar to that in Pennsylvania, the Re- 
formed Church would now have a different history t o 
write of its work and people in the South. A few faith- 
ful men, such as Theus, Froelich, Martin, Dupert, 
Suther, Penager, Zubly, Schneider, Bithahn, Loretz r 
stood alone for years and did their work well. But in 
South Carolina and Georgia they had no successors. 
But the labors of Mr. Theus were not in vain. He 
fostered the weak German churches in North Carolina 
and held them together until permanent ministers 
came and located there. The Classis of North Caro- 
lina does well, even at this late date, to pay tribute to 
Rev. Christian Theus, whose labors in those early years 
prepared the way for future success. 

The German immigration was at high tide from 1745 
to 1755. These people were members of the Reformed, 
Lutheran and Moravian Churches. They settled in 
the most fertile sections of North and South Carolina* 
They were not slow to gather the people into congre- 
gations. Often the Reformed and Lutherans built 
union churches, a few of which are still found. The 
greatest problem of all was to secure ministers. Rev. 
Christian Theus, who began to preach in South 



/ 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 27 

Carolina as early as 1739, made missionary tours 
through the German settlements in North Carolina 
from 1745 to 1760, and likely even later than that. 
The Rev. Mr. Martin, a Swiss Reformed minister, 
preached to the congregations from 1759 to 1764. 
He was followed in the latter year by the Rev. Mr. 
Dupert, a Huguenot minister. In the interval of these 
years, the Rev. Mr. Schwum, a German Reformed 
minister, preached to the several congregations. 

Rev. Samuel Suther began to preach in North 
Carolina in June, 1768. He located in Mecklenburg 
County, which was formed in 1762, and included a 
large section of the State along the South Carolina 
border. In 1792, Cabarrus County was formed. The 
churches which were then in Mecklenburg County were 
within the present limits of Cabarrus County. Mr. 
Suther continued to reside in Mecklenburg County 
from 1768 until October 25, 1771, when he removed 
to the eastern section of Reformed Churches, at the 
time including Orange and Guilford Counties. Orange 
County was formed in 1751, and included then Guil- 
ford County. Guilford County was formed in 1770. 
Mr. Suther retained his residence here until January 
7, 1782, when he again removed to the central section 
of congregations. Here he remained four years, until 
1786. In 1786, he removed to the Reformed Churches 
in the upper part of South Carolina. Here he died, 
September 28, 1788, aged 66 years, 4 months and 10 
days. 

Father Suther was an indefatigable worker. To 
him is due largely the credit of thoroughly organizing 



28 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

most of the congregations still in existence at the for- 
mation of the Classis of North Carolina in 1831. At 
first, several of the congregations worshiped in private 
houses and brush arbors. There had already been 
built some substantial log houses when he came. He 
exerted himself to build houses of worship for all the 
congregations. Feeling the need of money for this 
purpose, in 1784, in company with George Gurtner, 
Esq., he made a trip to Pennsylvania to collect funds 
to assist in building churches. 

Mr. Suther's parish consisted of that large section of 
the State now covered by the counties of Alamance, 
Guilford, Davidson, Rowan, Cabarrus and Stanly. 
He organized several congregations in this section, and 
preached to them all statedly. 

Mr. Suther took a prominent part in the affairs of 
the State. His residence in North Carolina covered 
the Revolutionary war period. He is the "Dutch 
Minister" mentioned by Governor Tryon. Mr. Suther 
was an intense patriot, and preached this doctrine 
among his people. As a consequence, nearly all his 
people were patriots, though many Germans of other 
denominations were Tories. 

Rev. Christian Theus located in the Congaree section 
of South Carolina. He was ordained in 1739 by the 
English Presbyterians, in the absence of an organized 
body of the Reformed Church clothed with that author- 
ity. In that large territory he labored for many years, 
preaching to the Reformed people and also to the 
Lutherans in the long periods when they were unable 
to secure pastors. The Rev. Mr. Suther also preached 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 29 

for the Lutherans until 1773, when the first Lutheran 
pastor (Rev. Adolph Nussman) came to North Caro- 
lina. The parish of Rev. Theus was certainly very 
extensive. While he labored mostly in South Caro- 
lina, he found time to visit his destitute brethren in 
North Carolina, in order to baptize the children, cate- 
chize the youth, administer the communion and 
preach the Gospel. He was sincerely devoted to the 
Reformed Church, and it was likely through his in- 
fluence that Rev. Samuel Suther went to South Caro- 
lina, in 1786. But at the same time, he was broad 
in his sympathies, and readily endorsed the union 
movement, known as the " Corpus Evangelicorum." 
Mr. Theus and Rev. Carl Froelich were the Reformed 
ministers who went into that organization, which, 
however, did not succeed. 

Rev. John William Pythan (often written Bithahn) 
had an unfortunate career prior to his coming to 
North Carolina, having been deposed from the minis- 
try by the Coetus (Synod) of Pennsylvania, in 1771. 
Subsequently he gave up his immoralities and preached 
acceptably in North and South Carolina. The date of 
his coming to North Carolina is not definitely known, 
though he preached in the Lincoln County churches 
before Rev. Andrew Loretz came, in 1786. He located 
finally in Guilford County and preached to the congre- 
gations there and also to those in Rowan (including 
Davidson) until his death. He had been a pastor in 
Europe prior to his coming to America, in 1769. He 
was a bright, intelligent man and an eloquent preacher. 
He was the successor of Suther in the eastern section, 



30 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

and seems to have given satisfaction. His death 
occurred on a Sunday after he had preached a sermon 
at the Clapp's Church, which was remembered long 
years afterwards by those who heard it. His body 
was buried at Clapp's Church (Brick), in Guilford 
County. 

Rev. Samuel Suther changed his residence from 
North Carolina in 1786. Rev. Andrew Loretz was 
the next minister who deserves the title " pastor of 
all the churches." In times of their vacancy, he sup- 
plied all the Reformed churches in North Carolina 
through many years, and he also preached in South 
Carolina after the death of Mr. Suther. Mr. Loretz 
was the son of Rev. Andrew Loretz, who was, for a 
short time, a pastor in Pennsylvania. He was born in 
Chur, Switzerland, and came to America in 1784. He 
came to North Carolina in 1786 and located in the 
western section of the Church, which, up to this time, 
had been more sadly neglected than the other churches. 
For twenty-five years he was a faithful minister of the 
Word. In addition to his work in this State, he visited 
the destitute congregations in South Carolina four 
times a year. The latter churches had no regular 
pastors after the death of Theus and Suther. In 1827 
all those churches had been lost except those in Lex- 
ington and Newberry districts. The report of a com- 
mittee to Synod that year, at York, Pennsylvania, on 
the southern section of the Reformed Church makes 
the following statements concerning those churches: 
"The only fragments of congregations belonging to 
our Church in South Carolina of which we have any 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 31 

knowledge are found in the ' Dutch Forks/ formed 
by the Saluda and Broad Rivers. This Forks was origi- 
nally settled by Germans, and almost exclusively of 
the Reformed Church. Immediately after the Revo- 
lutionary war there were numerous flourishing congre- 
gations. They were attended by two ministers about 
fifteen or eighteen years, when they were removed by 
death. Unable to procure a pastor, they solicited the 
occasional labors of the Rev. Loretz, of Lincolnton, 
North Carolina, who visited them four times a year 
catechized the children and administered the Lord's 
Supper. Thus the Church was externally kept to- 
gether about twelve years. After the death of Loretz, 
they were entirely destitute for many years." 

But the large field was entirely too extensive for 
one man to cultivate. Father Loretz was a faithful 
man. He and Suther and Schneider and Bithahn 
built well upon the foundation of the Church already 
laid in North Carolina. Mr. Loretz had a polished 
education, being well acquainted with the Latin, 
French and German languages, and spoke each flu- 
ently. He was a strong preacher and a good organ- 
izer. Many admirers said of him that he was "one of 
the best pulpit orators in the Carolinas." His name 
is still held sacred by the descendants of those to 
whom he ministered in holy things. He died on a 
Sabbath evening in 1812, after having preached at St. 
Paul's Church. He lies buried in the graveyard at 
Daniel's Church, in Lincoln County. His works do 
follow him. 

The Rev. Mr. Schneider came to North Carolina in 



32 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

1787. His labors were given primarily to the con- 
gregations in Rowan county (now Davidson), on 
Abbott's creek. He organized Beck's Church in 1787, 
after preaching in that community in private houses 
and brush arbors in the groves. His work was quite 
effective and resulted in gathering the Reformed 
people scattered over a wide section into four reason- 
ably strong congregations. Up to 1787, Leonard's 
Church was the only organized Reformed Church in 
Rowan County east of the Yadkin River. When Mr. 
Schneider became pastor, he established churches at 
Beck's, Sower's and Fredericktown (now Bethany). 
He also extended his labors into other sections of the 
North Carolina churches. 

Samuel Weyberg came to North Carolina the first 
time as a theological student, in the year 1791. He 
had first studied law in Philadelphia, but in 1790, on 
the death of his father, who was the pastor of the old 
Race Street Church in that city, he gave up law for 
theology, and studied under the direction of Revs. 
Wack and Herman. On this first trip, he visited the 
German Reformed settlements in North Carolina, and 
preached to the several congregations. He then re- 
turned to Philadelphia, and was regularly licensed and 
ordained, either the latter part of 1792 or early in 1793. 
In 1793, he came south a second time. Rev. Andrew 
Loretz was then the only resident minister in North 
Carolina (unless Mr. Bithahn was still living) , and Mr. 
Weyberg was a valuable accession to the churches. 
For ten years he preached regularly in the congrega- 
tions of the Reformed Church, particularly those in 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 33 

Cabarrus and Rowan Counties (including Davidson). 
He was a strong preacher and a diligent pastor. He 
rode miles hunting the Reformed families in a wide 
section of country. He was greatly loved by the wide 
circle of members to whom he broke the Bread of Life. 
About the year 1800 there began to be a feverish ex- 
citement among the people of Mr. Weyberg's congre- 
gations to emigrate to the region beyond the Missis- 
sippi River. Large inducements to settlers were held 
out by the governments of France and Spain. Several 
of the Reformed people in the congregations of Mr. 
Weyberg went west under this influence and entered 
large tracts of fertile lands. In 1803, France sold the 
great Louisiana Territory to the United States, and 
this further stimulated immigration into that inviting 
new country. But these people who had been accus- 
tomed to having worship conducted by ministers of 
their own faith sadly missed their former pastors. 
In 1803 Mr. George F. Bollinger came all the way 
back to North Carolina to present in person a call to 
Rev. Samuel Weyberg to serve Reformed people in 
Louisiana. The call was signed by Mr. Bollinger and 
many other substantial men who had been members 
of the Reformed Church in North Carolina. Mr. 
Bollinger was a man of influence, being a member of 
the State Legislature. Mr. Weyberg loved the people 
among whom he labored in North Carolina, and he 
felt that he owed them a duty. At the same time he 
sympathized with those in the far Southwest, who so 
sadly needed the Gospel. It was no easy matter to 
decide whether to leave his adopted home and find a 



34 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

new one several hundreds of miles away. But at last 
he had to decide, after long and careful deliberation, 
and his decision was to go. North Carolina thus fur- 
nished the first Reformed missionary to the great 
West. Rev. Samuel Weyberg preached the first 
Protestant sermon ever preached west of the " Father 
of Waters." 

But his departure was a sad loss to the congrega- 
tions in North Carolina. This servant of God died 
June 18, 1833, from the dreadful scourge of cholera. 
His people in the West were left without a pastor till 
1841. In the interval, they made strong appeals 
(notably in 1835 and 1841) to the churches in North 
Carolina to send them ministers. But, unfortu- 
nately, the requests could not be granted, because they 
themselves were so sadly in need of more ministers. 

The parents of Rev. John Jacob Larose came to 
America about 1740, or before that date. He was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was in the battle 
of Trenton. In the summer of 1777 he came to North 
Carolina, and located in Guilford County, where he 
followed his trade of tailoring. In his home he studied 
the Bible and religious books, preparatory to the Gospel 
ministry. He also received some instruction from a 
Presbyterian minister. He was licensed by the 
Presbyterian Church in 1795. He preached to several 
congregations in Guilford and Orange Counties, and 
in other parts of the State where there were vacancies, 
until September, 1804, when he went to Ohio. 

In 1797, a petition was sent up from Ritschland, 
Steiner's and Grace Churches, in the eastern section, 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 35 

for a faithful minister. These were likely some of the 
congregations formerly served by Rev. John W. 
Pythan. The Synod could not grant the request, but 
resolved that the matter should be attended to as soon 
as possible. The same year, Synod was asked by the 
congregation at Second Creek, Rowan County, to take 
up a collection for them and also to send them a min- 
ister. The Second Creek Church was at that time en- 
gaged in building a new house of worship, to take the 
place of the old log church. The new church was a 
handsome stone structure, ever since popularly called 
the "Lower Stone Church." Synod declined to take 
up the collection, but promised to send them a min- 
ister as soon as practicable. 

Jacob Christman, a young North Carolinian, was 
received under the care of Synod in 1794, as a student 
for the ministry. When Synod met in Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania, in 1798, six congregations in North 
Carolina petitioned that body to ordain Mr. Christman 
as their minister. He was examined by Revs. Messrs. 
Gobrecht, Wack and Runkel. The examination being 
satisfactory, he was ordained, May 1, 1798. Mr. 
Christman was one of the students trained by Rev. 
Samuel Weyberg, while he was pastor in North Caro- 
lina. He labored in the State until 1803, when he 
removed to Ohio, being the first Reformed minister in 
that State. Though the Reformed Church in North 
Carolina was so sadly in need of ministers herself, yet 
she gave the pioneer Reformed missionaries both to 
Ohio, where she sent Rev. Jacob Christman, and to 
the region beyond the Mississippi River, whither she 
sent Rev. Samuel Weyberg. 



36 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

There were too many congregations in Orange, 
Guilford and Randolph Counties for Rev. John J. 
Larose to serve alone; besides, he was only a licentiate. 
Some of those congregations, already in 1797, had 
overtured Synod for a minister, but there was no one 
available to be sent. The needs became greater and 
greater. Rev. Andrew Loretz was serving the churches 
over a wide extent of country in Lincoln County. 
Besides he had to visit the destitute congregations in 
South Carolina. Since the coming of Weyberg and 
Christman to the Yadkin River and Abbott's Creek 
sections of the Church, it is true he was relieved of 
much extra work, but it was a long distance to the 
eastern group of churches. Revs. Weyberg and 
Christman had their hands full in serving the congre- 
gations in the territory at present covered by the 
counties of Stanly, Cabarrus, Rowan, Davie and 
Davidson, and hence they could give only occasional 
visits to the vacant churches. Accordingly, again in 
1802, these congregations asked Synod to place Mr. 
Henry DiefTenbach, then a catechist in Virginia, in a 
"position to serve them in all circumstances as a 
German Reformed minister." They wanted a man 
among them who could perform all ministerial acts. 
The Synod met that year in Philadelphia. Mr. Dief- 
fenbach, in response to this request, was licensed and 
ordained, May 18, 1802, the committee on ordination 
being Revs. Wagner, Wack and Runkel. He at once 
located in the eastern group of churches, and after the 
departure of Revs. Weyberg and Christman, he and 
Rev. Andrew Loretz, together with Rev. George Boger, 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 37 

supplied the churches formerly served by those minis- 
ters. In 1805, his health having failed, he asked 
Synod to permit him to resign his work. But the 
Synod requested him to delay pressing his resignation 
for two years yet, on account of the urgent need of 
ministers in North Carolina. The exact date when he 
left the State is not known, but it must have been be- 
fore 1813, for in that year four of the congregations 
which he had regularly served petitioned Synod for a 
minister. Or possibly his health continued impaired, 
rendering him unable to discharge his ministerial 
duties. Sometime during this period of ill health he 
went to Pennsylvania, and later to Ohio, where he 
suddenly and mysteriously disappeared in 1838. He 
left home to take a walk of two miles, and was never 
heard of again. It is supposed that he was murdered 
and his body concealed. 

The departure of Rev. Mr. Dieffenbach and the 
death of Rev. Andrew Loretz, in 1812, left Rev. George 
Boger the only ordained Reformed minister in North 
Carolina. There were elders in many congregations 
who conducted services and held prayer-meetings. 
There were also school teachers who were pressed into 
service to read printed sermons and prayers. Thus 
the congregations were held together. 

George Boger was a native of North Carolina, and 
studied theology under the direction of Revs. Samuel 
Weyberg and Andrew Loretz. He was ordained 
March 6, 1802, by Rev. Andrew Loretz, at Savitz's 
Church. He lived in the community of his birth all 
his life, where he died, June 19, 1865, in his eighty- 



38 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

third year. After the departure of Revs. Weyberg 
and Christman, in 1803, he took charge of the group 
of churches served by them, and he ministered to them 
regularly for twenty-seven years. He also extended 
his labors into other counties and into South Carolina. 
Mr. Boger was succeeded in 1830 by Rev. Daniel B. 
Lerch. Following is the autobiography of the Rev. 
Mr. Boger: 

"In the name of God, Amen. To God be glory. 

GEORGE BOGER — HIS BIOGRAPHY. 

"In the year 1782, December 15th, George Boger was 
born and baptized by Rev. Suther. The sponsors were 
George Goodman and Rosina Foil, unmarried. I 
was brought up in Cabarrus County, North Carolina 
(then Mecklenburg County). My father's name was 
Jacob, and was born and reared in Maxidonee (Maxa- 
taney) Township, Pennsylvania. My mother was a 
Loefler, of the same State and county. After their 
marriage, they betook themselves to North Carolina 
and settled on so-called Buffalo Creek. There went 
I some months to a German school, when seven or 
eight years old. The schoolmaster's name was Joseph 
Hentzler. When nine years old, I went to school 
again, to Martin Schlump, and when eleven years old 
I went again six months to a German school, to Joseph 
Hentzler. When fourteen or fifteen years of age I 
went to English school four months, to John Yeoman. 
And when I had attained to sixteen years, three 
months and one-half my father sent me to religious 
instruction to Rev. Samuel Weyberg. After six weeks, 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 39 

on the twelfth of May, 1799 (Whit Sunday), I received 
the Lord's Supper, and was received as a member into 
the Evangelical Reformed congregation. Some weeks 
after, I felt a desire to study for the ministry, and it 
seemed to me no other way than I must preach, and I 
believed I had a personal call of God to the holy office 
of the ministry. 

"When I announced this to Mr. Weyberg, he at 
once assisted me and I was his student. After I had 
studied seven months and three days, then I for the 
first time preached, at which time I was seventeen 
years and four months old. I was one year a student 
under Rev. Weyberg, and God favored and blessed 
my undertakings. After Mr. Weyberg and I parted, 
which occurred December, 1800, I returned to my 
parents, and at times served three to four congrega- 
tions. In October, 1801, I betook myself to Rev. 
Storch (Lutheran minister), and was several months 
under his tuition. After that, in April, 1802, I went 
to the Rev. Andrew Loretz, in Lincoln County, and 
was under his tuition something over ten months. 
He ordained me March the 6th, 1803, at Savitz Church, 
Rowan County, ten miles from Salisbury, and so, in 
the name of the Holy Trinity, was I ordained as a 
Reformed minister, and received permission to ad- 
minister the Holy Sacrament, so that the Triune God 
would favor and bless me, and all my labors and 
undertakings be blessed. 

"The persons who petitioned Pastor Loretz to ordain 
me are the following, viz.: William Schmetter, John 
Shuman, Michael Peeler, Joseph Correll, Christopher 



40 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Loefler, Henry Barringer, Adam Correll, Christian 
Shuman, Nicholas Shupping, Ludwig Bieber, Jacob 
Meisenheimer, Henry Casper, Chirstopher Lyerly, 
Jacob Reide and Frederick Seibert. 

"And when ordained, I was twenty years, two 
months, two weeks and four days old. 0, Almighty, 
bless and protect me — grant me a full measure of Thy 
Holy Spirit, so that I may discharge my holy calling 
acceptably. O Jesus, let Thy light shine upon me, 
and give me strength that I may preach Thy Word 
with understanding, power and boldness. 0 Holy 
Spirit, lead me, give me strength in weakness, and 
bestow Thy blessing upon my labors, and Thy name 
shall receive the praise in a world without end. 
Amen." 

From a minute diary kept by Mr. Boger, we learn 
that during the several years he was engaged in his 
studies before his ordination, he was wont to supply, 
at irregular intervals, the churches of Cold Water, 
Crooked Creek, Rocky River, Savitz, Lingle's and 
Bear Creek. Yet in the year 1800 he assisted in all 
the labors incident to a common farm-hand on his 
father's farm. After his ordination, he had charge of 
the Reformed Churches in that region until he was 
relieved, in part, by the Rev. Daniel B. Lerch, in the 
autumn of 1830. The increasing demand for preach- 
ing in English demanded this change. Yet Mr. Boger 
still continued to minister, until eventually, in 1847, 
he gave up his loved life-long work. He died among 
his kindred and the people he loved and labored for, 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 41 

on Monday, the 19th day of June, 1865, at the good 
old age of eighty-two years, five months and four 
days. His work sums up thus: More than thirty 
years pastor of from four to seven churches ; baptized 
one thousand nine hundred and nineteen children; 
received six hundred and twenty-seven persons into 
membership with the Church; married two hundred 
and one couples, and preached three hundred and 
eight funeral sermons. Of the sermons he preached 
during his ministry, we find no perfect record, but they 
number at least one thousand six hundred and sixty- 
three. The life of this humble, incompletely educated 
pioneer minister in the Reformed Church was not an 
idle one, and to him doubtless the continued existence 
of the Church in Cabarrus, Stanly and Rowan Counties 
is, under God, largely due. 

After the departure of the Rev. H. Dieffenbach and 
the death of Rev. A. Loretz, "the care of all the 
Churches'' was too much for one man. Accordingly, 
when Synod met at Frederick, Maryland, in 1813, the 
churches in Guilford, Orange, Randolph and Lincoln 
Counties, and those in Rowan east of the Yadkin River, 
set forth in letters their sad condition on account of 
the want of the ordinary means of grace. Their des- 
titute condition was feelingly portrayed. In these 
letters they most earnestly entreated Synod to send 
them ministers, or at least some one to visit them. 
The situation is pathetic. There would be a different 
story to record to-day if regular pastors could have 
been located in these churches. But, unfortunately, 
Synod did not have the ministers to send as pastors 



42 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

for these churches. But Synod did the best that could 
be done under the circumstances in the appointment 
of Rev. James R. Reily as a missionary to this region. 
He was given thirty dollars a month in addition to 
what the congregations might contribute to his support. 
The S}mod was deeply touched by the strong appeal 
from the Southern churches. The Rev. Dr. Becker 
made an earnest address in favor of sending Mr. Reily 
on a missionary tour among them. When it was de- 
cided to send him, Dr. Becker proposed that Synod 
commend him to God. The Synod knelt in prayer and 
prayed the blessing of God upon Mr. Reily in his new 
work. He started to the South in the latter part of 
August, traveling on horse-back the long distance. 
He had at least one thrilling experience, which was 
also very unpleasant, on the way down. One day, 
having lost his way, he was overtaken by nightfall 
where he could find no suitable place to lodge. He 
stopped at a cabin where there was no one but an old 
woman, whose appearance was anything but pre- 
possessing. He climbed a ladder to the attic, which 
was to be his sleeping-room. Not being favorably 
impressed with his surroundings, he took the precau- 
tion to drive his knife-blade into the door-post, so as 
to secure the latch. This proved to be a wise fore- 
thought. About midnight he heard two men in an 
undertone conversation with his hostess, who had 
pretended to be living alone. In a little while, they 
climbed up to his door and tried the latch without 
rapping. But the knife-blade held it secure. Then 
they demanded that he open the door, and in a few 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 43 



minutes he told them to come in. But they at once 
discovered that he was ready for them, for in each 
hand gleamed a pistol. They fled precipitately down 
the ladder and hastily left the house. The design of 
these men was no doubt robbery, and perhaps murder. 

In due time Mr. Reily reached the field in North 
Carolina, where he spent nearly four months preach- 
ing, catechizing, visiting and administering the 
Sacraments. He confirmed one hundred and sixty- 
nine persons and baptized one hundred and thirteen. 
In 1814, Mr. Reily made a favorable report of his mis- 
sionary work in North Carolina. This missionary 
tour led to the formation of the Board of Domestic 
Missions. 

Synod met at Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania, in 1814. 
Several congregations in this State sent up a statement 
of their need of a minister. Mr. William Hauck, a 
pious young man who had grown up among them 
and who had studied for the ministry, had been 
preaching to these congregations for some time. They, 
therefore, asked that Mr. Hauck be placed over them 
as a minister. He was examined by a committee and 
the examination was reported satisfactory. He was 
accorded license to preach for three years, and was 
instructed to report annually to Synod. Mr. Hauck 
attended the sessions of Synod at Carlisle, Pennsylva- 
nia, in 1818. Here he was examined for ordination 
by a committee. The report stated that his examina- 
tion gave entire satisfaction and recommended his 
ordination. He was ordained on the night of Sep- 
tember 8, 1818, by Revs. J. H. Hoffmeier, W. Hendel 



44 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

and L. Mayer. It is not known how long Mr. Hauck 
preached in North Carolina before he was licensed, 
in 1814. After his licensure, he remained in the State 
until 1819, when he removed to Wythe County, Vir- 
ginia. In 1827, a report to Synod stated that six or 
eight years prior to that date the South Carolina 
churches had been served by him. It is probable that 
he left Virginia about 1821 and went to South Caro- 
lina, where he remained a short time. He came to 
North Carolina a second time before 1831, for in that 
year he was pastor of the Davidson County churches 
(formerly designated the congregations on Abbott's 
Creek in Rowan County), and was chosen the first 
president of the Classis of North Carolina. In 1836, 
he removed to the State of Missouri, where he died. 

In 1815, when Synod met at Easton, Pennsylvania, 
William Weinel, who was licensed at that session, was 
commissioned as a missionary to North Carolina for 
the specific purpose of accepting a call to churches 
in this State. He was paid the monthly salary of 
thirty dollars allowed to other missionaries. Mr. 
Weinel visited the churches in North Carolina as 
directed by Synod. But instead of accepting a call to 
any of those churches, he accepted a call to West- 
moreland County, Pennsylvania. Synod was not 
pleased with this latter action of his, and so stated 
in the minutes of 1816. Again in 1816 requests were 
sent up from different congregations in North Caro- 
lina asking that measures be taken to send ministers 
to them, as provided by the constitution of the Synod. 
The people were becoming more and more anxious. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 45 

To them it appeared that Synod was not doing all that 
could be done towards providing them with the means 
of grace. Rev. William Weinel had visited them, but 
he had not remained as he had been requested to do. 
In answer to their urgent appeals, Synod took the fol- 
lowing action: " Resolved, that one or the other of 
the candidates for the ministry instructed by Rev. 
Samuel Helfenstein be appointed to this mission." 
Mr. Helfenstein was instructed to send one of these 
young men to North Carolina the next spring, if the 
funds needed for traveling expenses should be in the 
treasury. In 1817 it was reported that a beginning 
was made to send itinerant missionaries to Carolina. 
That same year a collection was taken, amounting to 
sixty-seven dollars, to pay the expenses of J. R. Reily 
and John Zulich on a missionary tour to North Caro- 
lina. Neither of them was, however, able to come, and 
they were excused by the Synod in 1818. At the same 
meeting of the Synod, Messrs. H. Scholl and Daniel 
Kieffer, theological students, were appointed to go to 
North Carolina, but in 1819 it was reported that 
neither of these men had carried out the instructions 
of Synod, whereupon " Synod was much displeased 
and ordered them to pay back the money they had 
received." However, Rev. H. Dieffenbach visited the 
North Carolina churches in the early part of the year 
1818. 

The latter part of the year 1818 and nearly the whole 
of the year 1819 witnessed the coming of two young 
men to the churches in the South, Revs. Jacob Scholl 
and John S. Ebaugh, whose labors were a great bless- 



46 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

ing to all the congregations. During many months 
they itinerated through all the sections of the State 
where were Reformed Churches, preaching the Gospel 
and administering the ordinances of the Church. 
Their labors were richly blessed , and many precious 
souls were brought into the kingdom of God. 

The churches in North Carolina sent up another 
petition to the Synod of 1819. It is touching to notice 
these pathetic appeals for ministers year after year. 
During the Synodical year 1819-20 Rev. George Leidy 
made a missionary visit to the North Carolina Reformed 
Churches. At the meeting of Synod at Hagerstown, 
Maryland, in 1820, he gave an interesting account of 
this tour. "At first he visited the six congregations 
in Guilford, Orange and Randolph Counties. These 
congregations are in a very flourishing condition, and 
they are willing to give a minister a sufficient salary. 
They have been visited for the last six or eight years 
by several missionaries of the Synod. They expressed 
an earnest longing for a settled minister of the Gospel 
among them. He served them with preaching and 
instruction of the youth. In one of the congregations 
he confirmed thirty-six persons and celebrated the 
Holy Communion with one hundred and forty-nine 
communicants. It is a very beautiful and flourishing 
congregation. The number of catechumens and com- 
municants would have been considerably larger if 
cold and disagreeable weather had not set in at the 
time. These congregations especially deserve the 
attention of Synod. In them a true love for religion 
and a special inclination to the order of the Evangelical 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



47 



Reformed Church is manifested. Then he visited the 
four congregations in Rowan County on Abbott's 
Creek (now Davidson County). He found that these 
people were served from time to time by Rev. George 
Boger." He next visited the six congregations in 
Lincoln County. " These congregations offer a good 
opportunity of labor for the kingdom of Jesus Christ, 
especially if they are soon provided with a faithful 
minister, who can serve them in both languages. 
These last congregations are also recommended to the 
Synod." 

Rev. John Rudy located in Guilford County in 1821 
and remained in the State until 1824. After he left, 
the churches served by him called the Rev. Preston of 
the Presbyterian Church, who promised to serve tnem 
until they could secure the services of a minister of 
their own denomination. Those in Lincoln County 
called the Rev. Mr. Bell, also of the Presbyterian 
Church. Up to this time, the church in Lincolnton 
had been vigorous and strong. But the 1827 report 
says of it: "This congregation once flourishing is now 
rent and divided." 

When Synod met in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, in 
1828, John G. Fritchey and John H. Crawford were 
ordained in answer to overtures from churches in 
North Carolina. Mr. Fritchey located in Lincoln 
County and Mr. Crawford in Guilford. This was the 
beginning of better things for the Reformed Churches 
in North Carolina. In 1829, these young ministers 
addressed a letter to Synod, pointing out the inviting 
opening that was offered to the Church. The next 



48 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

year Rev. Daniel B. Lerch accepted a call to the 
Rowan churches, succeeding Rev. George Boger, who 
had resigned on account of advancing years. Rev. 
William Hauck was pastor of the Davidson County 
churches. The congregations were now at last sup- 
plied with ministers. 

The Synod at Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1830, took 
the following action: " Resolved, that these brethren 
of North Carolina be permitted to organize a Classis 
of North Carolina; and that the brethren in Virginia 
be advised to connect themselves either with the 
North Carolina Classis or with the Classis of Maryland, 
until prepared to organize a Classis of their own." 
This action was carried out the next year. 



CHAPTER III. 



Following the Organization of Classis. 
1. The First Meeting of Classis. 

THERE was vastly more involved in the gathering 
of four ministers and an equal number of elders at 
Clapp's Church in Guilford County on the 21st day of 
May, 1831, than was at the time thought of. Those 
men assembled as representatives of the Reformed 
Churches in North Carolina in obedience to instructions 
given by the Synod of the German Reformed Church 
at Hagerstown, Maryland, September 26, 1830, for the 
purpose of organizing the Classis of North Carolina. 
They met on Saturday morning. They were men 
characterized by a deep spiritual life. Evidence of 
this is found in the fact that they spent two days and 
evenings in religious services before entering upon the 
organization of the Classis proper. The record says 
that on Saturday the day and evening were spent in 
addressing the throne of Grace, preaching the Word 
of truth and in singing the songs of Zion. Four ser- 
mons in all were preached on Saturday, two by Revs. 
D. B. Lerch and William Hauck in German, and two 
by Rev. J. G. Fritchey in English. 

The Sunday following was a great day for the Re- 
formed people who had come together, and its memory 
was cherished through life by those whose happy 

(49) 



50 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

privilege it was to be present and enjoy the inspiring 
sermons. For long years their hearts echoed the sen- 
timent of Peter: " Master, it is good to be here." At 
an early hour the spacious church was filled to over- 
flowing. At the first service of the morning, Rev. J. H. 
Crawford preached an English sermon, on "The Duty 
and End of the Gospel Ministry," from Collossians 1: 
28, 29. Rev. Wm. Hauck preached a German sermon; 
he was followed by Rev. D. B. Lerch in an English 
sermon. The Lord's Supper was then administered 
to a large number of the professing people of God. 
Following these prolonged services, Rev. J. G. Fritchey 
preached a sermon in English. A prayer-meeting was 
held in the church at night. 

At nine o'clock Monday morning, May 23d, Revs. 
William Hauck, John G. Fritchey, D. B. Lerch and 
John H. Crawford, and Elders Col. Philip Hedrick, 
Col. John Hoke, Adam Roseman, Esq., and Col. Daniel 
Clapp met to formally organize the Classis. Rev. 
Wm. Hauck and Col. Philip Hedrick represented the 
churches in Davidson County; Rev. J. G. Fritchey and 
Col. John Hoke, those west of the Catawba River; Rev. 
D. B. Lerch and Esquire Roseman, those between the 
Catawba and Yadkin Rivers, and Rev. J. H. Crawford 
and Col. Daniel Clapp represented the churches in 
Guilford and Orange Counties. Rev. Wm. Hauck was 
elected President; Rev. J. H. Crawford, Recording 
Secretary; Rev. J. G. Fritchey, Corresponding Secre- 
tary, and Rev. D. B. Lerch, Treasurer. The above- 
named ministers were the only pastors in charge of 
churches in North Carolina at the organization of the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 51 

Classis, though Rev. George Boger was living in the 
State at that time. It was expected that he would 
attend this initial meeting. A resolution was adopted 
expressing the deep regret of Classis at his absence, 
and respectfully soliciting his presence at the next 
meeting. Rev. John Brown, who was pastor of the 
churches in Rockingham and Augusta Counties, in 
Virginia, was also expected to attend the meeting and 
assist in organizing the Classis. But he was unable 
to be present. He, however, wrote an interesting 
letter expressing great regret at being prevented from 
attendance upon the first meeting. The Classis in- 
structed the corresponding secretary to write a letter 
to Rev. John Brown, assuring him of the high esteem 
in which he was held by the brethren in North Caro- 
lina, and begging his attendance at the next meeting. 
A letter was also read from Samuel Bookman, an elder 
in South Carolina, earnestly entreating the ministers 
of the Classis to visit and preach for the congregations 
in that State. In answer to his appeal the Classis 
directed the ministers present each to visit those 
churches at least once before the next annual meeting. 

The delegates present at the first meeting repre- 
sented seventeen congregations in North Carolina. 
These were Emanuel's, Grace, St. Paul's, St. John's 
and Daniel's, in Lincoln County; Grace, Bear Creek, 
Savitz's and Coldwater, in Rowan, Cabarrus and 
Montgomery Counties; Coble's, Clapp's, Schumaker's 
and Stoner's, in Guilford and Orange Counties; Beck's, 
Emanuel's, Leonard's (Pilgrim) and Sower's (Beulah), 
in Davidson County. The statistical report shows that 



52 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Rev. John Brown was pastor of seven churches in 
Rockingham and Augusta Counties, in Virginia. Rev. 
George Boger is reported without a charge. 

The treasurer of Classis, Rev. D. B. Lerch, received 
the first funds for that body from the hands of Rev. 
Wm. Hauck from three churches in Davidson 
County, as follows: Beck's, $2.75; Leonard's, $1.75; 
Sower's, $1.35; total, $5.95. It seems that none of 
the other congregations had thought of the need of 
funds. That was a beautiful spirit manifested by 
those three Davidson County churches. While the 
amounts were small compared with present-day 
ability, the devotion to the interests of the Reformed 
Church which prompted the donation deserves high 
commendation. These same churches have contrib- 
uted to the Classis in subsequent years much larger 
sums for various objects of benevolence, but no con- 
tributions since have been given from a more beautiful 
spirit and thoughtful devotion. That gift was aug- 
mented by an offering made by the members of Classis, 
amounting to $4.35. The Classis, therefore, began its 
first year's work with the modest sum of $10.30 in the 
treasury. It was a small sum of money, but it was a 
nucleus to which succeeding years added much larger 
gifts. 

One of the subjects calling forth most earnest dis- 
cussion at the first meeting of Classis was the urgent 
need of more ministers. The members put themselves 
on record as recommending the necessity of making 
still greater exertions for the conversion of precious 
souls. They state that there were still vacant con- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 53 

gregations in North Carolina that, in anguish of soul, 
had vainly cried : "Come over and help us." But they 
were conscious that promised visits from ministers to 
vacant churches would not meet the requirement of 
growth, and they, therefore, pledged themselves to 
appeal solemnly to the Synod for help, as well as to 
the Missionary Society, which was a sort of mission 
board. If those earnest appeals for ministers could have 
been answered in those early days, there would be a 
different story to tell to-day. For long periods of time 
churches remained without pastors. The wonder is, 
not that more rapid progress was not made, but that 
any of the congregations were able to remain intact 
through those long, discouraging years. 

2. The Classis in Growth. 

The time fixed for the second annual meeting of 
Classis was June 9, 1832, and the place chosen was 
Pilgrim Church in Davidson County, more generally 
known in those years as Leonard's Church. This was 
one of the oldest congregations in North Carolina, and 
in colonial times was officially designated "The Dutch 
Congregation." As at the first meeting, no official 
business was transacted on Saturday, but the entire 
day was devoted to religious services. On Sunday 
services were held in the church and in the grove at a 
stand at the same time. Four sermons were preached 
and the Lord's Supper was observed. There were 
present at this meeting Revs. Wm. Hauck, George 
Boger, J. G. Fritchey, J. H. Crawford and D. B. Lerch, 
and Elders Jacob Leonard, Sr., Henry Sechler, David 



54 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Ramsour, Col. Daniel Clapp and Jacob Holshouser. 
The Classis had not then yet adopted the rule of having 
a Stated Clerk, or permanent secretary. Hence, in the 
election for officers the former Secretary, Rev. J. H. 
Crawford, was chosen President. The subject upper- 
most at this meeting, as well as at the first and many 
subsequent meetings, was that of securing additional 
ministers. The following resolution is intense with 
earnestness: " Resolved, that a committee be appoint- 
ed to make early and earnest application to the Mis- 
sionary Society of the German Reformed Church for 
a missionary to labor in the destitute places within 
the bounds of this Classis one year, and that the mem- 
bers of this Classis assiduously endeavor to raise a fund 
to support him. Resolved, that all the ministers belong- 
ing to this body visit the destitute congregations in 
South Carolina during the present year, the same as last 
year." As a result of this effort Rev. W. C. Bennet was 
sent to South Carolina as a missionary October 17, 
1832, by the Missionary Society of the Reformed 
Church. This is so stated by Rev. D. Zacharias in a 
letter to Classis dated November 1, 1832, written from 
Harrisburg, Pa. Rev. Bennet took charge of six 
churches in the Lexington and Newberry districts in 
that State, viz.: Little Hollow Creek, St. Matthew's, 
Zion's, Upper Hollow Creek, Zion's and Bethlehem — 
two of the congregations being called by the same 
name, Zion. But Mr. Bennet did not long remain in 
South Carolina. He attended the third annual meet- 
ing of Classis at Savitz's Church in 1833, and was then 
enrolled as a minister of Classis. Six months later 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 55 

he succeeded Rev. Wm. Hauck as pastor of the 
churches in Davidson County. These South Carolina 
churches received occasional visits from the North 
Carolina pastors from time to time, and were reported 
in the statistics of Classis up to and including the sev- 
enth annual meeting, at Lower Stone, in Rowan 
County, 1837. After that year they were not reported 
at all, and were lost to the Reformed Church. No dis- 
position was ever made by the Classis of any property 
that they may have held. There was no shepherd and 
the sheep were scattered. It is a familiar story, re- 
peated many times since. It has always been diffi- 
cult in the Reformed Church in North Carolina to keep 
the ranks of the ministry unbroken. As early as the 
fourth annual meeting of the Classis at Grace Church, 
in Lincoln County, now Catawba, in 1834, a movement 
was inaugurated which it was fondly hoped would 
relieve the situation. At that meeting it was " Re- 
solved, that Classis form itself into an Education 
Society and Auxiliaries, within the bounds of this 
Classis." The first article of the constitution adopted 
was the following: "This society shall be called the 
Education Society of the North Carolina Classis, of 
the Reformed Church; the object of which shall be to 
aid in the education of indigent and pious young men, 
within the bounds of this Classis, for the Gospel min- 
istry." One of the provisions was that any person 
paying two dollars annually should be a member of 
the Society; and any person paying twenty dollars 
should be a member for life. The annual meetings of the 
Society were to be held on Saturday previous to the 



56 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

second Sunday in May where the Classis was to meet. 
This movement may have been premature ; the results 
seem not to have met the expectation of the promoters. 
But it shows the earnest spirit of our fathers. 

To meet the urgent and repeated calls of vacant 
churches for pastors, the Classis at a special meeting 
in Bear Creek Church (Montgomery County, now 
Stanly), September 9th, 1835, decided upon the organi- 
zation of a " Missionary Society," and appointed a 
committee to draft a constitution. The committee 
made its report at the Pilgrim Church, in Davidson 
County, in 1836. The object of the society was stated 
to be "to raise pecuniary aid for those preachers who 
may be called to disseminate the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ among our indigent and destitute brethren and 
friends in the Southland and Western Country." This 
organization did good service in educating the people 
to give, and by it considerable sums were raised for 
the purpose specified. The hearts of the members of 
Classis were made to rejoice during the sessions of the 
fourth annual meeting at Grace Church, in 1834, by 
the application of Mr. John Lantz, a bright, conse- 
crated and exemplary young man, to be received under 
the care of Classis as a student for the ministry. The 
brethren felt that their prayers were being answered. 
Mr. Lantz was received, and Rev. J. G. Fritchey was 
directed to have charge of his instruction in further 
studies. This arrangement continued until March, 
1836, when, at the earnest request of the Rev. Mr. 
Fritchey, Mr. Lantz entered the Theological Seminary 
at York, Pennsylvania. Another step in this same 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 57 

movement was made at a special meeting of Classis, at 
Bear Creek Church, September 9, 1835. At that time 
Rev. W. C. Rankin was received as a member of 
Classis, having been ordained by the Tennessee Synod 
of the Lutheran Church. The Rev. Mr. Rankin was 
appointed traveling missionary. His first duty was 
to visit the churches in South Carolina. He was also 
to visit the churches in North Carolina and collect 
funds for the " Missionary Society" which had been 
inaugurated at the Bear Creek meeting of Classis. 
His salary was to be paid out of funds collected and 
the amount was to be determined by the Classis. 
When the Classis met at Leonard's Church in 1836, 
Mr. Joseph Lingle was received under the care of the 
Classis as a student for the ministry, and he was directed 
to pursue his studies under the supervision of Rev. J. 
H. Crawford. Mr. Lingle seems to have been so well 
prepared that a committee was appointed with dis- 
cretionary powers to license him during the year. 
But the career of this promising young man was cut 
short by death before the next meeting of Classis. 
Before the close of 1838, three additional ministers 
were laboring in North Carolina, viz.: Revs. John 
Lantz, David Crooks and G. A. Leopold. The eccles- 
iastical horizon was brightening. The fathers thanked 
God and took courage. 

Rev. W. C. Rankin was continued as Classical mis- 
sionary until some time in 1837, when the Missionary 
Society of the Classis sent him to labor in the West. 
This was a beautiful spirit. The Reformed Church in 
North Carolina was not strong, and was sadly in need 



58 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

of missionaries herself. And yet the people gladly 
contributed to support one of their own ministers as a 
missionary in another needy section of the country. 
In the minutes of 1838 is this record: " There is a 
great disposition manifested on the part of our 
churches to sustain our institutions, and to increase 
the spread of the Gospel both at home and abroad. 
Our Missionary Society has during the past year 
employed and sustained one missionary, the Rev. W. 
C. Rankin, in the Far West, laboring with considerable 
success, as his report to this Classis clearly shows. 
These things are indeed cheering and encourage the 
belief that our Reformed Church shall yet shine forth 
fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an 
army with banners, and that she is destined not to be 
the least, nor yet the last, among the armies of the 
Captain of our salvation." There is a similar note of 
rejoicing in another part of the records of that meeting: 
"The exercises of the Sabbath were perculiarly inter- 
esting and impressive, and with them we humbly 
trust commenced a new era in the history of our 
Southern Reformed Zion. For the first time our 
people have enjoyed the privilege of witnessing the 
solemnities of ordination to the sacred office, by the 
laying on of hands, in their own church; and never 
before were any of them permitted, by formal installa- 
tion, to enter into arrangements with any of the ser- 
vants of Christ to break unto them the bread of life. 
But now our brightening prospects encourage the 
hope that the day is not far distant when such scenes 
will be as frequent as the returning demands for min- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 59 

isters; as familiar to our people as their vacant pulpits 
formerly were; and that a day of good things is dawn- 
ing upon our long-neglected and suffering Southern 
Reformed Zion." That was the day (the first Sunday 
in August, 1838) when theological student John 
Lantz was solemnly ordained to the Holy Ministry 
and installed pastor of the Rowan churches, which had 
been vacant since the death of their beloved minister, 
Rev. D. B. Lerch, March 18, 1834. The record con- 
tinues: "It was truly an occasion of solemn and deep 
interest, attended with tokens of the Divine presence 
and strongly marked with indications that the Lord 
is smiling upon the people of that interesting charge, 
and their night of mourning and sorrow has passed 
away and given place to the dawn of a bright and 
glorious day of Divine visitation." 

3. The Centenary Celebration. 

The Centenary Celebration occupied the attention 
of the whole Reformed Church, beginning in 1841. 
The subject was fully discussed at the meeting of 
the Classis that year. The action was as follows: 
" Resolved, that this Classis will, under God, do all 
in its power to further all the objects of the Cen- 
tenary Celebration, as set forth in the circular ad- 
dressed by the Synod to the churches. Resolved, 
that this Classis will, in reliance upon Divine aid, put 
forth an effort to raise five thousand dollars during 
the centenary year, as a thank-offering to the Lord. 
Resolved, that the different charges shall be per- 
mitted to make choice of any of the objects specified 



60 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

by Synod, or any other charitable or benevolent 
objects with which the interests of our Southern Zion 
are connected, upon which to bestow their contribu- 
tions, and that each minister shall be permitted to 
adopt such measures as shall, in his judgment, be best 
calculated to carry out the design of these resolutions." 

The next year the reports of what had been accom- 
plished were interesting. Rev. J. H. Crawford's 
churches in Lincoln County had decided to raise a 
permanent fund, to be called the "Loretz Beneficiary- 
ship. " In fact, they had already secured $1,500 of 
the desired amount, and proposed to secure two or 
three hundred dollars more. Rev. John Lantz's 
churches, in Rowan and Cabarrus Counties, had de- 
cided to raise a fund of at least $1,500, to be called the 
"Boger Beneficiaryship." They had already secured 
$500. Rev. David Crooks reported that his churches 
in Davidson County had decided to build a " Centenary 
Parsonage/ 7 and had purchased a tract of land for this 
purpose and were making improvements on it. Rev. 
G. W. Welker had not been in the Guilford Charge long 
enough to inaugurate the work, but assured the Classis 
that the matter would be brought to the attention of 
the people. The work was carried forward through 
the next four years, even though the centenary year 
had passed. The interest in the work was intense. 
When the Classis met in 1841, the Stated Clerk was 
directed to procure a book and record therein the names 
of all the donors, with the amounts given by each, and 
then deposit the book in the archives of Classis. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 61 



4. Work Among the Colored People. 
The Reformed Church had at no time prior to the 
Civil War separate congregations composed of colored 
people. But in slave times colored people were 
members of the same churches with their white mas- 
ters. In 1838 this whole question was made clear 
by the following action of Classis: " Whereas, there 
are yet some churches in our bounds without room 
for the colored people in the sanctuary, and without 
provision for their reception into the communion of 
the Church, therefore, Resolved, that all such churches 
be recommended to follow the example of their sister 
Reformed Churches and the churches of other de- 
nominations generally at the South, in providing 
room and pews for colored people in the house of 
God and in opening a door for their reception into 
the communion of the Church whenever their knowl- 
edge of the truth and personal piety shall render 
them fit subjects for Christian communion; and if 
slaves, by and with the consent of their masters." 
Ministers were directed to explain and enforce the 
duties that devolve upon Christian masters and mis- 
tresses growing out of their relation to their servants. 
The pastors were required to give particular attention 
to the spiritual instruction and training of the servants 
belonging to the families under their care, and when- 
ever practicable, to hold special services for their 
benefit adapted to their situation. Masters were re- 
quired to have their slave children baptized and to 
look after their religious training. We are happy to 
know that our fathers were true to the duties they 



62 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

owed to their servants. When in the course of time 
this relation was changed by presidential proclama- 
tion, the force of arms and constitutional enactment, 
we find the ministers and elders of Classis, on Novem- 
ber 7, 1865, resolving u to render hearty thanks to 
Almighty God for the restoration of peace to our 
divided and suffering country, and for the preserva- 
tion of the precious lives of so many of our brethren 
exposed to death." 

At the annual meeting in 1867 it was ordered that 
in the missionary efforts of Classis special care should 
be given to the claims of colored people. In 1868 
application was made by a congregation of colored 
people at Haw River to be received under the care of 
Classis. The congregation also asked that one of their 
elders might be permitted to preach to them and con- 
duct their religious services. Both of the requests 
were granted, and a committee was appointed to direct 
the studies of the elder named in his preparation for 
the ministry. The Haw River congregation is given 
in the statistics of the two following years as vacant, 
and the records do not mention it otherwise. This was 
a fine opening for the Reformed Church to do mission 
work among the colored people after the war. The 
Classis of North Carolina had not the financial strength 
to do the work alone, and for some reason the Church 
in the North let the opportunity pass. 

5. The Church Paper and Literary Institutions. 

The Classis of North Carolina from the first took 
high ground for the support of Reformed periodicals 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 63 

and literary institutions. At every meeting strong 
resolutions endorsing the"Weekly Messenger"and urging 
pastors and people to support it were adopted. The 
benefits coming to the Church from the religious paper 
were never lost sight of, and the attention of the mem- 
bership was called year after year to the necessity of 
reading the Church paper. The literary and theological 
institutions of the Church were subjects of repeated 
resolutions of endorsement, and the names of the 
places where those institutions of learning were sit- 
uated (Carlisle, York and Mercersburg, Pennsylvania) 
were used as familiarly as if they had been towns in 
Guilford, Davidson, Rowan or Lincoln Counties, North 
Carolina. When it is remembered what distance 
meant in those days, the devotion of our pastors to 
these institutions of the Church is remarkable. The 
election of a professor in the Seminary was considered 
as prayerfully and earnestly in the North Carolina 
Classis as in any Classis in Pennsylvania. For instance, 
in the meeting of 1838 action was taken as follows: 
" Resolved, that this Classis is deeply sensible that the 
prosperity of our German Reformed Zion, under the 
blessing of God, chiefly depends upon our literary and 
benevolent institutions. Resolved, that the present 
encouraging prospects of our institutions afford ample 
ground for greater and more efficient effort on the part 
of members of this Classis and increase their obliga- 
tions to secure the permanent endowment of our 
schools. Resolved, that in the selection of a Professor 
of Theology, at the approaching meeting of Synod, we 
do unanimously agree in instructing our delegates to 



64 The Reformed Church in Xorth Carolina. 



support the re-election of Dr. Mayer, knowing him to 
be the choice of the Church at the South." Later on 
when Dr. Mayer retired from the position to which he 
had been elected we find the following endorsement of 
his successor: "While Classis deeply regrets the resig- 
nation of Dr. Mayer, it rejoices in the election of Dr. 
J. W. Nevin to fill the place, and views his connection 
with our Church and Seminary as an indication of 
Providence for good to our Reformed Zion." In 1843 
Classis met at Beck's Church in Davidson County. In 
all the proceedings of that year there is a note of rejoic- 
ing. It was the first time in the history of the Classis 
that all the churches had regular pastors. Was not 
that something to call forth thanksgiving and rejoic- 
ing? The record says: "Of the German Reformed 
Church in North Carolina, the record of more than 
eighty years is now entered upon the table-book of 
eternity. Of the men who then ministered to her in 
holy things not one remains. Much of their history 
too, glimmering as it does through the lapse of eighty 
years, is but dimly seen and little known. On the 23rd 
of May, 1831, our Classis first drew the breath of organic 
life. Of the ministers whose prayers and efforts tnen 
warmed it into being, but two remain in its connection. 
From its organization up to the present time it has 
passed through a variety of trials. True, however, in its 
devotion to the interests of the Church, it has main- 
tained its existence and bids fair to increase both in stat- 
ure and wisdom. In regard to this acquisition, Classis 
owes an expression of gratitude for our College and 
Theological Seminary. Without the aid of such insti- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 65 

tutions, no efforts, however pious they might be, 
could secure to the Church that respect to which she 
is entitled, and to which she ought most certainly 
aspire. To take our proper stand among the sister 
churches with which we are surrounded, light is indis- 
pensably necessary. If other denominations prosper 
only in the soil of ignorance, it can never be so with 
us; if others glory in their shame and boast of their 
abilities without the aid of learning, it must not, it 
cannot be so with us. We owe our being as a branch 
of the Protestant Church to the triumphs of light over 
darkness, error and superstition. A knowledge of the 
Greek restored the Scriptures in their purity in Ger- 
many. From that moment a struggle ensued be- 
tween light and darkness. Our fathers resisted even 
unto blood, and finally succeeded in throwing from the 
bosom of the Church the spiritual encumbrance of 
ignorance and crime with which she was oppressed. 
The Protestant cause struck her roots deep, and still 
deeper, in the soil of truth and Scriptural intelligence, 
spreading her green branches far and wide, under 
covert of which the virtuous, the wise and the good 
loved to take shelter. Our institutions should, there- 
fore, be regarded as a nucleus around which the Church 
should be disposed to concentrate her efforts. The 
sacred soil upon which they are erected should be 
kept constantly bedewed with the balmy influence of 
prayer. Nor will her zeal be unrewarded. Their 
reflex influence, conducted as they now are by an able 
and pious faculty, upon the Church must ever be of 
the happiest kind. From them streams must ever 



66 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

issue to water and make glad the garden of our God. 
With regard to an enlightened ministry we have always 
taken high ground, and thus far, by the grace of God, 
we have been able to maintain it. Indeed, so great 
and so rapid have been our advances within the last 
few years, that the great danger at the present juncture 
is that of being exalted above measure, of forgetting 
our dependence. We also at this time enjoy the 
blessing of union — a union which binds heart and 
hand and effort around truth and principle. Our 
pulpits are now regularly filled. Our churches enjoy 
statedly the means of grace and the ordinances of the 
house of God. We are growing in numbers, as well as 
in moral and religious strength. This to us will con- 
stitute a year of years. Its record will ever be re- 
garded as a bright spot on the pages of the past, upon 
which memory will love to linger." 

This was written by the pious and talented David 
Crooks, pastor of the churches in Davidson County. 
G. W. Welker and S. S. Middlekauff had lately come 
directly from the Seminary and assumed charge of 
pastorates in the Classis. It is not remarkable that 
the members of Classis expressed so heartliy their 
appreciation of what the institutions of learning were 
doing for the churches in North Carolina, which had 
already given them John Lantz, David Crooks, Geo. 
W. Welker and S. S. Middlekauff, all consecrated and 
thoroughly equipped young ministers ; in another year 
Jeremiah Ingold would graduate from the Seminary 
and join the ranks of the ministry in their midst. 
One can imagine that the elders representing the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 67 

churches in that meeting of Classis (Jacob Berrier, 
John C. Earnhardt, Joshua Clapp, J. Ramsour and 
John Coulter) gave a hearty and unanimous vote for 
the adoption of the beautiful and glowing report 
submitted by Rev. David Crooks. 

6. Revival and Camp-meetings and Moral Questions. 

The churches in the Classis were greatly influenced 
by the fervid spirit that seemed to sweep throughout 
the churches in the South in these early years of the 
history of the Classis. The pastors through several 
successive years reported large ingathering from re- 
vival meetings. Catechetical instruction was not 
neglected, but the pastors felt the need of reaching 
in some way the scores and hundreds of people who 
could not be gathered for instruction in the catechism. 
Revival meetings were common in all the churches, 
including the Reformed. At the annual meeting in 
1838 Classis passed the following: " Resolved, that it 
be enjoined upon the ministers belonging to this Classis 
to hold one or more protracted meetings in each of the 
several charges in the bounds of this body, and that it 
be the duty of the brethren in the ministry to attend, 
provided they shall have been invited so to do by the 
pastor or the elders of the church in which such meet- 
ing is held." 

The next year all the ministers were required to state 
whether the meetings had been held, when it was re- 
ported that they had, and that much good had re- 
sulted therefrom. Camp-meetings were common in 
some sections of the Classis, St. Paul's, St. Matthew's 



68 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



and Bethany being well-known camp-grounds. In 
1840 Classis gave its endorsement to this form of 
religious work in the following resolution: " Resolved, 
that a camp-meeting shall be held at St. Matthew's 
Church, commencing on Friday previous to the third 
Sabbath in August next, and that it shall be the duty 
of all ministerial brethren belonging to Classis to attend 
said camp-meeting." 

The Classis of North Carolina from the first of its 
history took a strong position in favor of the agencies 
that have ever since been recognized as efficient helps 
in church activity and growth. At the first meeting 
the ministers and elders went on record as saying 
that the introduction of Sabbath Schools and prayer- 
meetings in the churches had proved that God delighted 
to use these agencies in building up His kingdom. 
Indeed, when for long periods at a time some churches 
had no pastors, the Sunday School and the prayer- 
meeting were the only religious services the people 
were privileged to attend. 

The Classis has ever been ready to take a firm and 
decided stand on questions of practical morality. 
Already in 1839, when Classis met at Coble's Church 
in Guilford County, the churches were suffering from 
the evils of intemperance. The record of that year 
says: "The cause of intemperance, like the sun in the 
days of Joshua, stands still, if it has not actually gone 
back on the dial. Alcohol, the most powerful and 
subtle of all hell's agents, still continues to pour into 
the community a long, deep and winding stream of 
woe, degradation and death." In 1858 Classis took 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 69 

decided action on the subject in a resolution: " Re- 
solved, that making or distillation for the purpose of 
indiscriminate sale of intoxicating liquors, its use as a 
beverage, the practice of giving it to hands invited to 
log-rollings, huskings, raisings, etc., is immoral in 
its tendencies and justifies the exercise of discipline." 
The position taken by the Classis was in advance of 
the general view prevailing at the time. Some of the 
congregations suffered temporarily. But these high 
principles were in the course of time accepted by all 
Christians. The position taken thus early by the 
Classis of North Carolina was reiterated over and over 
in subsequent years. 

Sabbath observance was a subject of many sermons 
in the early history of the Classis. The topic was one 
of earnest discussion in the annual meetings. As far 
back as 1839 the Classis goes on record as saying: 
" With regard to the Sabbath it is greatly to be lamented 
that its precious hours are often spent in idleness and 
visiting, if not actually devoted to secular pursuits." 
At the same meeting an additional rule of order was 
adopted, as follows: "No member of this body shall 
be at liberty to travel from or to any of its meetings 
on the Sabbath Day." This was a good example set 
by ministers and elders. 

7. Withdrawal from Synod. 

Other churches in the United States were divided 
on the line of slavery; not so the Reformed Church. 
The Classis of North Carolina seceded from the Synod, 
but for another cause. That which finally led to the 



70 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

withdrawal was the so-called "Mercersburg Theology." 
The first mention of the subject is given in the pro- 
ceedings of the annual meeting at Brick Church, in 
1852, when doubt was expressed as to the soundness 
of the theology taught in the Seminary. For some 
reason not mentioned no delegates were elected that 
year to represent Classis in the Synod, which was to 
meet in Baltimore. When Classis met at Pilgrim 
Church in special session, April 13, 1853, a committee 
was appointed to examine into the teachings of Mer- 
cersburg and report in full at the annual meeting of 
Classis on the doctrines, with their tendencies and 
effects. Revs. G. W. Welker, Jeremiah Ingold and 
Elder Jacob Berrier constituted the committee. The 
regular meeting was held at Lincolnton in May. The 
report of the committee elicited protracted discussion. 
The Classis expressed itself as not in sympathy with 
"Mercersburg Theology," and it was declared that the 
Classis of North Carolina no longer acknowledged the 
jurisdiction of the Synod and that it would be inde- 
pendent of said Synod until satisfied that the alleged 
heresies were no longer held. Classis became an inde- 
pendent ecclesiastical judicatory. The next Synod 
sent a letter inviting a return, which, however, was not 
agreed to. The constitution of Synod, with slight 
modification, was adopted for the government of the 
Classis. The next year Synod appointed a committee 
to admonish the Classis, but this too was without 
effect. The next year the officers of Synod addressed 
to the Classis a conciliatory letter, inviting a return to 
the jurisdiction of Synod. But Classis was not satisfied 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 71 

that its original cause of complaint had been removed. 
In 1858, two of the prominent ministers of Synod 
(Drs. Zacharias and Porter) addressed conciliatory 
letters to Classis, with a view of bringing about reunion. 
But Classis was still not prepared to go back into the 
Synod. Two commissioners, however, were appointed 
to attend the next meeting of Synod, at Frederick, 
with a view of paving the way to reunion. In 1859 
the commissioners reported and laid before Classis an 
invitation from Synod to resume its former relation. 
The Classis was almost equally divided, four voting 
for, six against and two not voting. The matter 
rested until 1865, when a committee was appointed,, 
to report next year, on the advisability of resuming 
the former relationship with Synod by the appoint- 
ment of delegates to that body. In 1866, in connec- 
tion with the report of this committee, a letter from 
Synod was read, signed by the President and Stated 
Clerk, in which were expressed most hearty feelings 
of regard, Christian sympathy, brotherly kindness and 
charity, together with sincere regret that adverse cir- 
cumstances had for a time prevented the Classis from 
sending delegates to Synod, and the earnest hope that 
from that time Classis would send delegates to meet 
and mingle with the brethren in Synod. Thereupon 
Classis resolved to send delegates to the next meeting 
of Synod, and thus resume its former relations. The 
chasm was thus finally closed. Sectional differences 
had nothing to do with it. Slavery was not the cause 
of withdrawal. Reconciliation would likely have 
been accomplished sooner had not the war shut off 
communication. 



72 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

During the interval of separation efforts at union 
with the Reformed Dutch Church and the North 
Carolina Synod of the Presbyterian Church claimed 
the attention of Classis. In 1855, during its sessions 
at Bethany in Davidson County, petitions were laid 
before Classis from the Newton and Catawba Charges, 
asking that a union with the Dutch Reformed Church 
be effected. Two commissioners were appointed to 
attend the next meeting of the Synod of that Church. 
The movement did not materialize. In 1857 the 
North Carolina Synod of the Presbyterian Church 
overtured Classis to effect a closer union with that 
body. The subject was referred to a committee for 
further conference with a similar committee represent- 
ing the Presbyterian Church. The plan agreed upon 
was then to be submitted to the congregations of 
Classis. The terms offered by the Presbyterian 
Church were liberal and generous. But such was the 
affection of a majority of the Reformed in North 
Carolina for the Church of their fathers, and so strong 
was their unalterable attachment to the doctrines of 
the Heidelberg Catechism, that union with the Presby- 
terian Church was an impossibility. In these many 
years the Reformed people in North Carolina have 
stood faithful to the standards of their Church. 

8. The Civil Waf Period. 

The Civil War was in every way a dark period for 
the churches in the South. When the Classis met at 
St. Paul's Church, Rowan County, in April, 1862, a 
cloud of gloom hung over the entire country. There 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 73 

was sadness in the hearts of ministers and elders. The 
seat of Rev. Samuel J. Fetzer, the beloved pastor of 
West Rowan Charge, was vacant ; he had answered the 
roll-call in heaven. Rev. P. A. Long wrote the report 
on religion and morals. In that report is the first 
reference to the Civil War. "The many calamities 
which excite our country have greatly affected the 
Church. Many of our brethren have been called by 
our rulers to leave their homes and thus made 
vacant their places in the church." This was early 
in the war. Next year the story was sadder. Rev. 
John Lantz in his report on the state of the church, 
said: "In looking over the reports from the several 
charges in connection with Classis, we have observed 
with profound sorrow the desolations of the war with 
its concomitant evils in our beloved Zion. It has 
brought death and gloom in many a once happy fam- 
ily, made vacant many places in the sanctuary for- 
merly vocal with the praises of God, and borne away 
from time to eternity many of our most promising and 
excellent young men. Among them were youths of 
high literary attainments and mental culture, as well 
as devoted piety, which fitted them for eminent use- 
fulness in the Church and the world and made them 
the hope of the future prosperity of our Reformed 
Zion in the South." Thursday, July 16th, of that 
year was appointed a day of fasting and prayer. The 
records of 1864 say: "Amid the calamities which have 
afflicted our country and the sorrows whose bitter 
waters have rolled their dark waves through all our 
churches, we have cause of devout gratitude to God 



74 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

for His great mercy vouchsafed to us. Our churches 
without perhaps a single exception are mourning over 
the death of members to whom they looked with hope 
for the future. Our hearts are pained at the remem- 
brance that so many loved ones have been taken 
from us." Jul}' 21st was appointed as a day of fast- 
ing and prayer. 

The place appointed for the meeting in 1865 was 
Daniel's Church, Lincoln Count}', Tuesday before the 
second Sunday in May. But Classis could not meet 
at the time and place designated, on account of the 
presence of hostile armies. Accordingly the President 
and Stated Clerk issued a call for a meeting at Grace 
Church, Rowan County, November 3, 1865, to transact 
all business that would come up at a regular meeting. 
The war was over, but its effects were to be felt through 
many coming years. It left the treasury of Classis 
literally bankrupt. Col. George Barnhart, the treas- 
urer, reported in hand a Confederate bond for three 
hundred and nineteen dollars in Confederate currency. 
The archives of Classis contain the three hundred 
dollar bond, one ten-dollar bill, one five-dollar bill and 
two two-dollar bills. All the funds in the treasurer's 
hands had become worthless through the collapse of 
the Confederate government. The Classis had to 
begin its financial business anew. The records of that 
year say: "It is under unusual circumstances we meet 
as a Classis. The events of the past four years have 
been such as greatly to depress our churches and to 
impoverish them. Many of our most pious and active 
members have fallen, and our number is greatly re- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 75 

duced. Many of our youths have been swept away 
by the floods of iniquity from their safe position in the 
bosom of the Church. . . . Poverty, too, like an armed 
man, is upon us. All these things cause deep gloom 
to rest upon our Church. Yet we owe great praise to 
God that our churches have so much escaped the 
corrupting influences of the war, and still maintain 
their existence. As a general thing, the churches are 
rapidly rising from their late depression, are beginning 
to look hopefully into the future, and are laying plans 
to preserve their spiritual inheritance to their children. 
In most cases, they hope to do something for the sup- 
port of their pastors as the business of the country 
shall be resumed." 

That same year the Mission Board of Classis reported 
itself practically bankrupt, since it had in hand but 
seventy-nine cents in good money, while five hundred 
and thirty-two dollars and seventy cents had perished 
with the Confederacy. The outlook of the mission 
field was gloomy. There were numerous inviting 
opportunities, but there were no funds. In 1866 
Classis found itself in debt twenty-six dollars. The 
condition of the treasury was but little more favorable 
in the three following years. In 1870 all bills had 
been met, and there was a small balance (twenty 
cents) in the treasury. That year a plan was devised 
to inaugurate an aggressive method to secure largely 
increased benevolent contributions. The plan pro- 
posed by the committee appointed for the purpose, 
which was reported in 1871, favored the organization 
of "A Board of Systematic Benevolence." The plan 



76 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

was adopted, and that system had an honorable and 
successful history of many years. 

While those years during and succeeding the war 
formed a period of darkness for the Reformed Church 
in North Carolina, yet the pastors and people did not 
lose heart. At the close of the war Classis addressed 
a pastoral letter to the churches under her care. 
"The times/' says the letter, "in which it has pleased 
God to cast our lot are such as seem to heighten the 
interest of the followers of Christ in each other. The 
intimate relation we sustain as brethren in the same 
communion will permit us to undertake this act of 
watchfulness and care without presumption. ... In 
these days when the bonds which unite the Christian 
household have in so many cases been sundered, we 
would remind you that these sad events should not 
cause neglect of family religion, and the great covenant 
duty of training up the children for Christ in the 
knowledge of the truth. There is danger of the re- 
ligious duties of the household falling into disuse 
when the head of the family has fallen. We urge upon 
Christian mothers to preserve the character and service 
of their families as required by the Word of God. In 
every case where the baptism of children has been 
deferred, awaiting the father's return, see to it that 
the child does not grow up without the mark of Christ. 
Attend strictly to the catechization of the children, 
and thus make your homes Bethels, where your little 
ones do not only grow in stature, but also in the fear 
of God and the knowledge of His Word. As we love 
the Church of Christ and with deep solicitude look 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 77 

into the future, we entreat Christian mothers, in this 
day of calamity, overwhelmed with care, who are 
widows, not to neglect to train their ' household 
treasures' in the way of life, so that the Church in 
days to come may reap of the fruits of your labors, 
tears and prayers a rich harvest of increase. Should 
not the consistory of the Church make it a solemn 
duty to watch over such families and encourage wid- 
owed mothers in their holy and arduous work? Should 
not the Church assume a parent's place for those, alas 
so many, who are doubly orphaned ? Are they not the 
children of the Church by baptism, and does not the 
covenant bind the Church to watch over, love and 
care for them? We have almost as many orphans in 
the Church as are the children whose parents yet live ; 
almost as many widows as wives. Here a sad and 
pious work is set before you by the Father of the father- 
less and the widow's God. Let parents and the 
Church see to it that the young are well catechized and 
brought up in the fear of God and the love of the Church 
and our Zion shall soon flourish. . . . We as a Church 
occupy a noble position. We have calmly kept our- 
selves from strife and divisive words or counsel, and 
there is not a word in all our records to divide us or 
offend a Christian brother. We may then dwell in peace 
and unity. Neither, so far as we can see, is there one 
act or word in the records of our Church North that 
is marked by bitterness; but our churches have been 
hailed with delight on the return of peace, and all 
brethren speak to us words of love and kindness. Let 
us then as a Church maintain the unity of our whole 



78 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

body, and let it be our task to cement the bonds that 
shall make our country one. ... A large number of 
those formerly slaves are now cast upon the country 
uneducated, without the means of life. Their condi- 
tion makes an appeal to all Christian men. Some of 
you formerly sustained the relation of masters. The 
change in civil relation has not changed the Christian 
relation. It is now demanded of us all to ask what 
God requires of us in respect to them. . . . Let all 
men seek to be faithful in this new relation in which 
we are placed to the colored race. Let Christian kind- 
ness mark our treatment of them. Let all men be 
patient and forbearing, as God is towards us, and let 
us seek to turn to a blessing what now seems a burden." 

9. Special Objects of Benevolence. 

Classis has not been the recipient of any large gifts. 
The work has been carried on principally through the 
free-will offerings of her people. Within the last sev- 
eral years the Board of Missions has treated the 
Classis generously in the support of missionaries. In 
1856 the Classis received a donation of fifty dollars 
from an unknown friend in New York "for the spread 
of the Gospel in the South." In 1860 the Classis gave 
its endorsement to a plan to raise a fund of $60,000 
for the endowment of Catawba College. Considerable 
of the amount was received in bonds, which the Civil 
War rendered worthless. In 1863 Mr. John Hileman, 
an elder in the West Rowan Charge, donated to Classis 
the sum of $220.50. In 1864 the Classis decided to 
increase the amount to $5,000.00, to be invested for 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 79 

the benefit of indigent widows of deceased ministers 
of the Classis, and agents were appointed in each charge 
for the purpose. But the war also rendered this 
worthy cause of no avail. 

The Classis, while unable to give large sums in sup- 
port of any particular cause, has always done its best 
to help along places that needed assistance. There 
are but few congregations in the Classis that have not 
in some way been her beneficiaries. In the early years 
assistance was rendered rather in giving assistance in 
the support of missionaries, and in later years in 
helping to build houses of worship. In 1860 the sum 
of $200.00 was appropriated to assist in supporting the 
pastor of the church at Newton. At the same time 
provision was made to supplement the salary of the 
pastor of the Grace Charge (Grace, Bethel and the 
mission at Hickory Tavern). When Classis met at 
Emanuel Church, Davidson County, in 1871, one of 
the items coming up for consideration was an appeal 
in behalf of the Reformed Church at Hickory. Classis 
took favorable action, as follows: " Whereas, the 
prospects of the Reformed congregation at Hickory 
Station are of unusual promise, and as the effort at 
that place deserves support, Resolved, that this Classis 
approves of the effort to erect a house of worship at 
this place, and will do all it can to encourage the im- 
portant work; that this enterprise be recommended to 
the Church and people under the care of Classis as 
worthy of the bestowment of their means upon it; 
that the ministers of Classis be not unmindful of this 
claim and bring it to the notice of their people; that 



80 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



the appeal of our brethren abroad be endorsed bythis 
Classis as an urgent one and a worthy object of liber- 
ality." 

In 1872 the Classis undertook to establish a "Mis- 
sion House" for the training of students for the min- 
istry. A committee was appointed to draw up regu- 
lations for the conduct of such an institution, and to 
receive proposals for its location and funds for its 
support. The enterprise proved impracticable, and 
was dropped the next year. But the effort shows the 
anxiety of the people to secure ministers. In 1891 the 
Synod of the Potomac, in session at Chambersburg, 
Pennsylvania, appointed a committee to confer with 
the Classis of North Carolina and the Trustees of 
Catawba College on the subject of establishing a theo- 
logical department in that institution. This action 
was in answer to a request from the executive com- 
mittee of the Trustees that such a department be estab- 
lished. That committee reported to the next Synod 
in favor of the work, and the Synod pledged the sum 
of $1,000.00 annually for five years for the support 
of- a professor of theology. The Synod also agreed to 
ra se an endowment fund of $25,000.00, and ap- 
pointed a committee to mature a plan. The several 
Classes of Synod had in the meantime assumed the 
amounts apportioned for the support of the professor. 
Rev. Wm. C. Schaeffer, Ph.D., was elected to the 
position and provision was made for his inauguration. 
The Rev. Dr. Schaeffer, however, declined to accept 
the position. The Synod in session at York, Pennsyl- 
vania, the next year took the following action: "Re- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 81 

solved, that because of the changed condition of affairs 
in the Classis of North Carolina, making the election of 
a theological professor at this time unnecessary, the 
election of such professor be indefinitely postponed. 
Resolved, that the agency for securing an endowment 
fund be discontinued. Resolved, that the several 
Classes contributing this fund be requested to turn the 
same over to the Trustees of Catawba College for the 
use of the general endowment fund." The theological 
department was dropped by the Synod. The time 
given to its consideration was not lost. The attention 
of the Church in the North was called to the great 
mission field offered by North Carolina to the Reformed 
Church. The Classis of North Carolina made far more 
substantial progress in the years when the great sub- 
ject of Christian Education for her people was before 
the Synod than during any previous similar period. 
Wider publicity was given to the consideration of the 
work in the Classis of North Carolina. 

In 1895, at the Synod in session at Frederick, Mary- 
land, the delegates from the Classis of North Carolina 
presented an overture from the executive committee 
of the Trustees of Catawba College asking that Synod's 
action of last year in regard to the theological profes- 
sorship be reconsidered and reversed. The Synod did 
not grant the request, but instead invited the Classis 
of North Carolina to consider the propriety of placing 
Catawba College under the care of the Synod of the 
Potomac. Rev. Dr. J. O. Miller, Rev. Dr. E. R. Esch- 
bach and Gen. John E. Roller were appointed to confer 
with the Classis and formulate a plan for this purpose. 



82 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

The Classis met in Newton December 9th, 1895, and 
appointed Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., Rev. J. L. Murphy, 
Rev. J. C. Leonard, Col. M. L. McCorkle and Maj. S. M. 
Finger as a committee to confer with Synod's commit- 
tee. These committees agreed upon a plan which 
was submitted to both the Classis of North Carolina 
and the Synod of the Potomac, and the plan was ap- 
proved by both bodies. By this plan Classis con- 
ceded to Synod the nomination of the Trustees of the 
College, and the Synod agreed to provide the College 
with an additional endowment fund of $17,000.00, and 
to pay the interest on the same until the principal 
was paid. The College remains the property of the 
Classis of North Carolina, but is under the fostering 
care of the Synod of the Potomac. 

In 1903 an anonymous friend, who had at heart the 
interest of the Reformed Church in North Carolina, 
donated to the Trustees of Catawba College a fund of 
$15,000.00 (afterwards increased to $20,000.00) to 
establish a theological professorship at such time as 
the Trustees may deem this step necessary. In the 
meantime the accrued interest on the fund was to be 
used in assisting to build mission churches in North 
Carolina. In 1905 this fund was changed to a "Bene- 
ficiary Education Fund." From the interest on this 
fund a student for the ministry pursuing his course at 
Catawba College and a Reformed Theological Semi- 
nary is entitled to one hundred dollars annually. 
Any part of the interest not so used goes into another 
permanent fund, to be loaned to mission churches in 
the South at a low rate of interest on easy payments. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 83 

In 1899 a friend in the State of Virginia established 
the " William Wirt Roller Scholarship" in Catawba 
College and endowed the same in the sum of $500. 
The same year Rev. Geo. B. Russell, D.D., LL.D., of 
Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, gave to the college a deed 
for 880 acres of land in Somerset County of that State. 

The urgent necessity for funds for mission work in 
the Classis has been felt from the first. In 1832 
Classis appealed to the Missionary Society of the 
Reformed Church for a missionary to labor in the 
"destitute places" of its territory; that is, they wanted 
a man to serve Reformed congregations already or- 
ganized, but which had been for years without min- 
isters. This appeal was answered by the Society 
sending Rev. Wm. C. Bennet, a young minister just 
from the Seminary. He was commissioned for four 
months and was to be under the direction of the Classis 
of North Carolina, and supported in part by its people. 
In 1835 Rev. W. C. Rankin was appointed the Classical 
missionary. His first duty was to visit the South 
Carolina churches, and he was accorded a letter of 
introduction to them. He was also appointed agent 
to carry out the purpose of the newly-organized Mis- 
sionary Society. Emanuel's, in Davidson County, 
was resuscitated in 1836. In 1837 two new congrega- 
tion s were reported, St. Matthew's and Lower Smyrna. 
The former was placed in the charge served by Rev. 
J. G. Fritchey, and the latter was to be served by the 
traveling missionary. Lile's Creek congregation, in 
Lincoln County, was reported in 1839. Friendship, in 
Caldwell County, was reported in 1844. In 1848 



84 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



Classis selected the Reformed Church of Newton, 
Catawba County, as the next place of meeting, 
but no congregation is reported until the meeting in 
1850. Bethany, in Davidson County, was re-organized 
in 1848 or 1849. Mt. Carmel, in Davidson County, 
was reported in 1850. and St. Paul's, in the vicinity of 
Salisbury, in 1851. The mission work of the Classis 
progressed remarkably well under the circumstances. 
The pastors were not afraid of additional work, and all 
the new congregations were organized and served by 
neighboring pastors. The work was mostly in the 
country. St. Paul's Church was intended to accom- 
modate the Reformed members living in Salisbury as 
well as those living near by in the country. Newton 
was the county seat of the new county of Catawba. 

The Classis has a good record for giving assistance 
direct in building new churches. Stoner's, in Ala- 
mance, received S100.00. Concord received 8500.00. 
Mt. Tabor received $10.00. Classis appropriated 
§250.00 for the church at Enochville. Calvary con- 
gregation received §200.00 for their church. 8100.00 
was appropriated to Hedrick's Grove. Blowing Rock 
received $10.00. The church at Crescent received 
$80.00. Conover received $130.00. $400.00 was given 
to Thomasville. Mt. Pleasant received S266.66. The 
appropriation to Salisbury was $900.00. To Whitsett 
was given $100.00. Burlington was given S400.00. 
Lexington received $400.00. The appropriation to 
High Point was $400.00. Bethany and Hebron re- 
ceived §100.00 each. Greensboro received 8700.00. 
Lenoir was given $300.00. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



85 



From members of the Reformed Church in North 
Carolina have come the " Major Sidney M. Finger 
Church Building Fund" of $500.00 for home missions; 
the " Major Sidney M. Finger Foreign Mission Fund" 
of $500.00 for foreign missions, and the "James Camp- 
bell Shuford Church Building Fund" of $500.00 for 
home missions. 

For a number of years the need of an orphans' home 
was felt. Articles were published in the "Reformed 
Church Corinthian/' advocating the cause. In 1899 
Classis took the first definite action looking to that end. 
A committee consisting of Revs. J. M. L. Lyerly, J. D. 
Andrew and H. A. M. Holshouser was appointed to 
investigate the matter. This committee was continued 
in 1900 and 1901. In 1902 Rev. J. M. L. Lyerly was 
appointed to canvass the Classis to raise in pledges at 
least $3,000.00, preliminary to establishing such a 
home. In 1903, that sum having been subscribed, 
Revs. J. M. L. Lyerly, J. H. Keller and Elder J. C. 
Lippard were appointed to formulate plans for the 
proposed home. At a special meeting of Classis in 
Faith Church, Salisbury, August 13, 1903, this com- 
mittee made its report, and at this time and place 
Classis decided to establish Nazareth Orphans' Home, 
at Crescent, Rowan County. A board of managers was 
elected, and they secured a charter at once and pur- 
chased sixteen and two-fifths acres of land for $410. 
In 1906 the McNairy farm, consisting of 85 acres, was 
purchased at a cost of $4,100. The home was opened 
December 2, 1906, with five children, in charge of 
Miss Mary P. Abbott. 



86 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



10. Catawba College. 

Rev. Andrew Loretz had so endeared himself to the 
churches in North and South Carolina by his Hercu- 
lean labors, eloquent preaching, pastoral care, mission- 
ary zeal, personal magnetism and sympathy for the 
afflicted, that when the German Reformed Church in 
the United States celebrated the centennial of her 
founding in this country, in 1841, a generation after 
his death, these churches raised a fund for Beneficiary 
Education, and called it the " Loretz Beneficiary 
Fund." Aided by the interest on this fund, a number 
of young men were educated for the ministry at our 
institutions at York and Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. 
This was before the days of railroads, and the young 
men traveled by private conveyance. This was tedi- 
ous, tiresome and expensive. While the managers of 
this fund were discussing these difficulties of travel at 
St. Matthew's camp-ground, about 1849, in the presence 
of the late Judge M. L. McCorkle, then a young attor- 
ney fresh from Davidson College, a young and strug- 
gling institution of the Presbyterian Church in North 
Carolina, he suggested: "Why not found a college of 
our own in our midst?" This was the germ from 
which Catawba College sprang. The idea was inspir- 
ing. It took shape at once, and in the fall of 1851 
Catawba College opened in the "Old Academy Build- 
ing" in Newton, North Carolina. 

The Classis of North Carolina had been faithful and 
devoted to the Synodical Schools of the Reformed 
Church, and had sent her young men North to be 
educated. In 1843 the Classis went on record as 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



87 



attributing her success in securing a supply of preach- 
ers to these schools of the Church. But Mercersburg 
was too far away to be reached by the scores of young 
men in the Reformed Church in North Carolina who 
wished to secure the blessing of a liberal education. 
Practically every minister in the Classis was a school 
teacher. This was a necessity from the scarcity of 
teachers in those days. A select company of young 
men crowded around these ministers to be taught 
English, Greek and Latin. These ministers also con- 
ducted small theological seminaries; the Classis as- 
signed students for the Gospel ministry to certain 
ministers for guidance and instruction in their theo- 
logical studies. 

The people, ministers and laymen, discussed pri- 
vately the propriety of establishing a high school at 
some point within the bounds of Classis, accessible to 
all the territory occupied by the Church. When in 
the year 1849 the Classis met in Grace Reformed Church 
(the White Church) in the town of Newton, the capital 
of the newly-formed Catawba County, the sentiment 
for such a school became so strong that on the last day 
of the meeting, April 30th, it was crystalized into the 
following resolution: " Resolved, that a committee be 
appointed to report at the next meeting of the Classis 
on the propriety of establishing a school of high order 
within the bounds of this Classis and under its con- 
trol." The committee appointed for this purpose 
consisted of Rev. G. W. Welker, Rev. Jeremiah Ingold, 
and Elder Henry Sechler. In 1850 the Classis met at 
Mt. Zion Church, Rowan County. The committee re- 



88 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

ported progress and was continued. The Classis was 
called to meet November 19th of that same year at 
Mt. Zion Church to hear the final report of the commit- 
tee on the high school. The report was as follows: 
"1. The Classis is not now prepared to locate the 
school; but a committee should be appointed to re- 
port on the most eligible situation for such a school 
at the next regular meeting of Classis. 2. It is not 
possible immediately to procure a competent teacher 
and the organization of the school should be postponed 
for the present, but a committee should be appointed 
to correspond on the subject and suggest a person or 
persons by the next annual meeting of Classis suitable 
for a teacher, together with the salary required. 3. 
That the young men now ready to engage in study be 
so apportioned among the several ministers of Classis 
as shall suit their convenience and the time and care 
of the ministers. 4. That the interests of this con- 
templated school be recommended to the attention of 
each minister and member of Classis." The first com- 
mittee called for consisted of John Coulter, Henry 
Sechler and Rev. John Lantz; the second committee 
consisted of Revs. T. Butler, J. H. Crawford, G. W. 
Welker and J. Ingold. The next annual meeting was 
held at Beck's Church April, 1851. In the meantime 
the last-named committee had appointed Rev. J. H. 
Crawford as the agent to collect funds. He reported 
that the scholarship plan had been adopted, and that 
he had secured twenty-eight scholarships at $200 
each and twenty-four half scholarships at $100 each; 
also $125 for a building and contingent fund. He 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 89 

had visited all the charges but had not solicited all 
persons likely to take scholarships, and had made no 
effort to procure any funds for building. The com- 
mittee on the location of the school reported three 
desirable places, Salisbury, Sandy Ridge and Newton, 
but mentioned Newton as their preference. Newton 
was accordingly chosen by the Classis for the location 
of the school. The people in various sections of the 
Church had taken a lively interest in this enterprise. 
The citizens of the young and vigorous town of Newton 
were anxious to secure the prize for their community. 
M. L. McCorkle, Esq., a prominent lawyer of that 
town and a member of the Reformed Church, had 
already proposed, in a conversation with friends of the 
movement at St. Matthew's camp-ground in 1850, 
that the school be located at Newton. And he took 
the lead in securing that end. He went to Beck's 
Church to attend the meeting of Classis, though not 
an elder, and was accorded all the privileges of the 
floor except that of voting. Further action in the 
interest of the school was taken as follows: " Whereas, 
it will not be safe to establish the contemplated high 
school unless $10,000 can be secured in the way of 
scholarships and $5,000 as a building fund, and, 
Whereas, that sum is not yet secured, Resolved, that 
Classis continue the effort to collect funds and secure 
scholarships until the adjourned meeting provided for 
in the next resolution. 2. That Classis hold an ad- 
journed meeting in Newton, Catawba County, North 
Carolina, on Friday before the second Sunday in June, 
1851, at 10 o'clock a. m. 3. That if it shall appear at 



90 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



this adjourned meeting that the required sum is se- 
cured, the Classis go forward to establish the school 
immediately. 4. That Classis appoint one or more 
persons in each charge as agents to secure funds." 
The following appointments were made: M. L. Mc- 
Corkle, Esq., and Dr. Q. A. Shuford, for the Newton 
Charge; John Coulter, Esq., Catawba Charge; Rev. 
David Crooks and Mr. Daniel Finger, Lincoln Charge; 
Rev. Thornton Butler, Mr. John Swing and Mr. Jacob 
Berrier, Davidson Charge; Rev. G. W. Welker and 
Mr. J. C. Clapp, Guilford Charge; Mr. Levi Correll, West 
Rowan Charge ; Rev. John Lantz and Col. George Barn- 
hart, East Rowan Charge. 

The Classis met again at Newton June 6th, 1851. 
The soliciting committee had succeeded in securing 
$10,000.00 in scholarships and $675.00 for the building 
and contingent fund. Final action for the establish- 
ment of the high school was postponed to a special 
meeting of Classis to be held at Mt. Zion Church, 
August 12th, 1851. A committee of seven was ap- 
pointed, consisting of M. L. McCorkle, Esq., Dr. Q. A. 
Shuford, D. B. Gaither, F. D. Reinhardt, Esq., Dr. J. 
W. Gunter, John Wilfong and Jos. A. Reinhardt, to 
secure in the meantime $5,000.00 for the building and 
contingent fund. When Classis met at Mt. Zion it 
was ascertained that the whole sum of $5,000.00 had 
not been secured, whereupon Rev. G. W. Welker, John 
Coulter and H. F. Ramsour were appointed to propose 
to the people of Newton and vicinity that when they 
should convey to the treasurer of Classis ten acres of 
ground as a proper location for the school, and erect 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 91 



thereon a residence of specified dimensions, and also a 
brick building for the school in accordance with a 
plan submitted, then the Classis will pay $1,000.00 
to the people of Newton and vicinity (this amount to 
be collected east of the Catawba River), and will estab- 
lish the school with a professor or professors to meet 
its needs. So certain was it that these conditions 
would be met that Classis proceeded to elect a principal 
for the school in the person of Rev. Jacob Chapman, 
of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. Chapman, how- 
ever, declined the position. Action was also taken to 
raise a fund of $1,500.00 (including the $1,000.00 
mentioned above), and to increase the scholarship 
fund to $15,000.00. When the Classis met at Grace 
Church, Catawba County, October 11th, 1851, it was 
reported that the citizens of Newton and vicinity had 
met the requirements of Classis. Rev. J. H. Craw- 
ford, Rev. David Crooks, F. D. Reinhardt, Esq., M. L. 
McCorkle, Esq., and Jno. Wilfong, Esq., were accord- 
ingly directed to take charge of the opening of the 
school, to secure a teacher for the time being and to 
watch over all the interests of the school until the next 
annual meeting of Classis. Rev. G. W. Welker was at 
the same time instructed to recommend a suitable 
person at the next meeting for principal of the school. 
The committee having the school in charge reported 
at a special meeting of Classis at St. Paul's, Rowan 
County, February 25, 1852, that they had opened the 
school December 3, 1851, with Mr. C. H. Albert as 
principal and Mr. H. H. Smith, assistant for the first 
session, and that there were then thirty-two pupils in 



92 The Reformed Church in Xorth Carolina. 



the school. The Classis decided not to elect a prin- 
cipal at that time, and placed the school in charge of 
Rev. John H. Crawford, Rev. C. H. Albert, John Wil- 
fong. M. L. McCorkle, F. D. Reinhardt. D. B. Gaither 
and Joseph Reinhardt for the next session. When 
Classis met in annual session at the Brick Church, May 
14, 1852, these commissioners reported that they had 
elected C. H. Albert Principal of the school and Pro- 
fessor of Belles Letters and the Latin and Greek 
Languages, and Mr. H. H. Smith Professor of Mathe- 
matics, Xatural Science and Modem Languages. One 
glowing sentence in the report reads: "The committee 
only yet have to add that the prospects of the school 
are so far very encouraging, and that, with the favor 
of the members of the Church in the shape of dollars 
and cents and the blessing of God, the institution will 
beyond all doubt become one of the best literary in- 
stitutions in the State. Let our people open their 
hearts and their purses and certain and glorious suc- 
cess will follow." It was also decided at that meeting 
that after the close of the next term the conduct and 
control of the school should be vested in a Board of 
Trustees, consisting of eighteen members, six of whom 
shall be elected annually by the Classis of North Caro- 
lina. The following were elected the first members of 
this board: John Coulter, Jacob Ramsour, Esq., G. P. 
Shuford, Jos. Reinhardt, F. D. Reinhardt, Esq., and 
Col. Philip Hedrick, one year; John Wilfong, E. R. 
Shuford, George Setzer, T. W. Bradburn, Jacob Ram- 
sour and Joshua Clapp, two years; Rev. J. H. Craw- 
ford, M. L. McCorkle, Esq., Jonas Bost, Dr. Q. A. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 93 

Shuford, Col. Geo. Barnhardt and Levi Correll, three 
years. Rev. J. H. Crawford was appointed agent for 
the school to collect an endowment fund of $10,000 
in addition to the scholarships already secured. Pro- 
vision was made to secure a charter from the State of 
North Carolina. The name of Catawba College was 
adopted for the school. 

The school was opened in the "Old Town Academy 
Building/' but soon became too large for its capacity 
and was removed to the "Old White Church" (Reform- 
ed), the first church built in the town, and for a num- 
ber of years the only one. Here it remained about 
two years, until a number of citizens called obligors 
erected a substantial brick building and a dwelling 
for the President on an elegant campus of about six 
acres south of the village, donated in part by Reuben 
Setzer, who was for many years a faithful Trustee and 
constant supporter of the school. The campus has 
been enlarged by several purchases since. In 1880 a 
new brick building, three stories, forty-five by ninety 
feet, was added, and in 1905 a still larger addition, 
with plants for lighting and heating all the buildings 
on the campus, was commenced. The President's 
house was enlarged some years before and converted 
into a ladies' dormitory, called the "Matron's Hall." 

The scholarship plan on which the school was started 
entitled any person who paid or gave bond for two 
hundred dollars and paid the interest at six per cent, to 
tuition for one student. The rate of tuition for others 
was very low, and after running five years the plan 
was abandoned; the faculty resigned and the property 



94 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

was leased to one of the Professors, Charles W. Smythe, 
who conducted a high school until the spring of I860, 
when Rev. A. S. Vaughn accepted the Presidency and 
began to raise an endowment of sixty thousand dol- 
lars. By the fall of 1860 he had secured half the 
above amount and re-opened the institution, with 
Jacob C. Clapp as Professor of Ancient Languages and 
his brother, William Vaughn, as tutor. The clouds of 
the Civil War began to thicken in the spring of 1861, 
and the President and his family returned to Pennsyl- 
vania. Many of the students enlisted in the army, 
and Professor Clapp finished the term with the few 
that remained. Afterwards, at the instance of citi- 
zens of the town, he conducted an academy in the 
college buildings until peace was declared. After the 
surrender he associated Major S. M. Finger with him 
in conducting Catawba High School. In a short time 
this institution rivaled Catawba College in her earlier 
days. 

The flower of the youth of the surrounding country 
flocked to Newton for a practical business education 
and to fit for college. Many of the young men had 
been soldiers and had felt the need of education and 
had learned obedience to authority. They made 
model students, and teaching them was a delightful 
task. These men are now among the most useful and 
successful of our citizens. Many of them are eminent 
in the learned professions and captains in the army of 
the growing industries which are rejuvenating the 
South. After a few years of school work Major 
Finger retired and Catawba High School was con- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 95 

ducted by Prof. J. C. Clapp, assisted by several young 
men who had fitted for college at Catawba, and had 
graduated at other institutions. Among these was 
Rev. John A. Foil, who in a few years became co-prin- 
cipal, and afterwards Professor of Mathematics. In 
these capacities he has done valuable service for many 
years; teaching first and last almost all the branches 
of an extensive curriculum, and being proficient 
especially in Mathematics, Greek and Chemistry. He 
worthily carries the degree of Ph.D., conferred by his 
Alma Mater, Ursinus College, in 1889. In 1885 Ca- 
tawba High School was merged into Catawba College, 
with Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., as President and Professor 
of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy; Dr. Foil, Pro- 
fessor of Mathematics; and W. H. Thompson, Profes- 
sor of Latin and English. The class of 1889, consisting 
of J. C. Leonard, J. M. L. Lyerly and M. A. Foil, was 
the first to graduate. Since this date, with a few 
exceptions, classes have been graduated annually, 
varying ki numbers from the above to eleven. Co- 
education was begun in 1880. Departments for music, 
art and business have since been added. The cur- 
riculum has always been of a high order and on a par 
with the best institutions in the State. The discipline 
and conduct of the students has doubtless not been 
excelled by any co-temporaneous institution in the 
country. Their standing and success in after life 
have been commensurate with their school life. They 
adorn the various useful avocations. In May, 1900, 
after an almost continuous connection as student, 
tut or, Trustee, Financial Agent, Professor and President, 



96 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

beginning in 1851, Rev. Dr. Clapp resigned the presi- 
dency, and Charles H. Mebane, an alumnus who had 
served several years as Professor of Greek, and had 
also served a term as State Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, was elected. During his administration 
Prof. Mebane well sustained the character of the insti- 
tution, and especially was he successful in swelling the 
patronage, which was, perhaps, never larger before or 
since. On his retiring, in May, 1905, Rev. George A. 
Snyder, D.D., for fifteen years the successful pastor 
of Christ Reformed Church of Hagerstown, Maryland, 
was elected. Dr. Snyder has served two years, during 
which time large additions and improvements have 
been made to the buildings, as noted above. 

11. A Home Church Paper. 

Endorsement was given to authorized publications 
from the first. The " Weekly Messenger" was accorded 
many warm resolutions, and ministers were enjoined 
year after year to increase the subscription lists 
in their charges. During the period of separation 
from Synod the need of a church paper published at 
home was felt very strongly. In 1864 an effort was 
inaugurated to carry out this long-cherished purpose. 
Committees were appointed to purchase a press and 
issue the paper. But when this committee came to 
report the next year, the matter was deemed not 
feasible and was accordingly dropped. 

The matter of a home church paper rested until 
1873. It was then decided to establish such a paper 
at once, and a strong committee, consisting of S. M. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 97 

Finger, M. L. McCorkle and Rev. Dr. J. Ingold, was 
appointed to take charge of the enterprise. But they 
reported at the next meeting that insufficient patron- 
age rendered issuing the paper impracticable. The 
matter rested again for a great many years. 

In 1887, after the Trustees of Catawba College had 
re-organized the institution under the provisions of 
the charter, the Philomathean Literary Society estab- 
lished the " College Visitor." It was intended prim- 
arily to represent the College, but at the same time it 
did a vast amount of good for the whole Classis. The 
editors in each issue gave a page or two to items of 
church news from the several sections of Classis. It 
was a financial as well as literary success. Voluntary 
subscriptions were given by friends to back the enter- 
prise in case more money was needed than the sub- 
scription list and advertising brought to the business 
manager. But these subscriptions were not needed 
and were not called for. Rev. J. A. Foil was appointed 
editor-in-chief, and associated with him were Messrs. 
J. M. L. Lyerly and J. C. Leonard, members of the 
Sophomore Class in the College; Rev. J. L. Murphy 
was editor of the church news column. The " College 
Visitor" had an interesting and successful career for 
several years. Its successor is the "Catawba College 
Educator," now issued by the Athensean and Philoma- 
thean Literary Societies. 

In 1893 Rev. J. L. Murphy began the publication 
of a parish paper in the town of Hickory, called the 
"Corinthian," after his church. At the end of the 
year its publication was discontinued for a few months. 



98 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

But in March, 1894, Revs. J. L. Murphy and J. C. 
Leonard as editors began the publication of a monthly 
paper under the same title, but with a wider scope, the 
intention being that it should be a local paper for the 
entire Classis. The new periodical received a hearty 
welcome from the Reformed people of North Carolina. 
In 1894 it was endorsed by Classis, and the pastors 
were directed to urge their members to give it their 
moral and material support. In 1896 Classis re- 
affirmed its endorsement in the following action: 
" Resolved, that the 'Corinthian' is endorsed as the 
local organ of Classis, and that the pastors are directed 
to secure subscribers." Rev. J. C. Leonard resigned 
in 1897, but the paper was continued by Rev. J. L. 
Murphy and was a valued supporter of the work of 
the Classis of North Carolina. At the beginning of 
March, 1906, the name was changed to the "Reformed 
Church Standard," and the paper has since been issued 
twice a month. Rev. J. L. Murphy, D.D., continues 
editor; Rev. C. E. Wehler, D.D., is business manager. 

12. The Records of Classis. 

The minutes of Classis are complete from the be- 
ginning.- They are in a good state of preservation, 
though the first records are somewhat soiled from age. 
Since 1901 all the record books of Classis have been 
kept in a fire-proof vault. During the first seven years 
the minutes were written by a secretary, chosen as an 
officer of Classis at each annual meeting. The first 
meeting was held at Clapp's Church in 1831, and Rev. 
J. H. Crawford was the secretary. The second meet- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 99 

ing was at Pilgrim Church in 1832, and the secretary 
was Rev. D. B. Lerch. The third meeting was held at 
Savitz's Church, 1833; the secretary was Rev. W. C. 
Bennet. At the fourth annual meeting, in Grace 
Church, 1834, Mr. John Coulter was the secretary. In 
1835 the fifth annual meeting was held in Brick Church, 
and Rev. J. H. Crawford was elected secretary. At 
the sixth annual meeting, held in Pilgrim Church in 
1836, Rev. J. G. Fritchey was secretary. Rev. J. H. 
Crawford was the secretary in the seventh annual 
meeting, at Lower Stone Church, in 1837. This method 
of keeping the records proved unsatisfactory, inasmuch 
as the books and papers had to be carried from place 
to place and change hands so often. Consequently at 
the eighth annual meeting, at Lower Stone Church (to 
which place Classis adjourned from St. Paul's Church, 
Lincoln County, where there was no quorum present), 
in 1838, it was decided that the records should there- 
after be kept by a Stated Clerk. Rev. J. H. Crawford 
was elected to this office. He did his work well, and 
kept the minutes neatly and accurately. He held the 
office nine years, until the seventeenth annual meeting, 
at Emanuel's Church, Davidson County, 1847, when he 
resigned. Rev. G. W. Welker, who had become a 
member of Classis in 1842, was thereupon elected 
Stated Clerk. He filled the position for the long term of 
forty-five years, resigning at the sixty-second annual 
meeting, in 1892, held at Hedrick's Grove Church, 
Davidson County. Classis accepted the resignation in 
the following resolution: " Resolved, that this Classis 
appreciates the services of Rev. Geo. W. Welker, D.D., 



100 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

as Stated Clerk for forty-five years; that we have un- 
limited confidence in his ability as an officer of Classis 
and as a correct parliamentarian; that it is only with 
kind consideration for his advancing age that we accept 
his resignation; that we pray God's richest benediction 
upon him, and that he may be spared many years yet 
to our Church and the North Carolina Classis." Rev. 
J. C. Leonard, then pastor of the Upper Davidson 
Charge in Davidson County, was elected Stated Clerk, 
and has now filled the office fifteen years. The Classis 
thus in seven years had five different secretaries, and 
in sixty-nine years it has had three Stated Clerks. 

13. Delegate Elders. 

The names of the elders who attended the meetings 
of Classis as delegates in its early years form an inter- 
esting chapter in the history of the Reformed Church 
in North Carolina. These men were chosen as elders 
by the local congregations for their integrity and 
character. To be chosen an elder in a Reformed 
Church in those days was a mark of distinction. The 
elder then stood very close to the minister. Indeed 
he does in these latter days, but in a somewhat differ- 
ent sense. The elders whose names appear on the 
first records of Classis were representative men who 
stood high in the communities in which they lived. 
Their names were the family names still found on the 
membership rolls of the congregations in the several 
sections of Classis. At Clapp's Church in the first 
meeting the names of the elders are Philip Hedrick, 
John Hoke, Adam Roseman and Daniel Clapp. The 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 101 

names indicated that they were citizens of Davidson, 
Lincoln, Rowan and Guilford Counties, respectively. 
The next year Classis met at Pilgrim Church, in David- 
son County, and the elders were Jacob Leonard, Sr., 
Henry Sechler, David Ramsour, Daniel Clapp and 
Jacob Holshouser. The sections of the Church can 
again be easily known by the names of the elders. 
Mr. Leonard was from the Davidson district; Mr. 
Sechler and Mr. Holshouser from the Rowan district; 
Mr. Clapp from the Guilford district, and Mr. Ramsour 
from the Lincoln district. The elders in the third 
meeting, in 1833, at Savitz's Church, were Daniel Cor- 
rell, Daniel Faust, Peter Rauch and Jacob Leonard, 
Sr. The elders attending the fourth meeting, at 
Grace Church, in 1834, were John Coulter, Henry 
Sechler, John C. Barnhardt and Peter Faust; Jacob 
Leonard, Sr., of Davidson County, was recorded as 
absent. The elders at the fifth meeting, in 1835, held 
at Brick Church, in Guilford County, were Daniel 
Conrad, Jacob Berrier, John Coulter and Caspar Hols- 
houser. In the sixth meeting, in Pilgrim Church, in 
1836, the elders were Samuel Lantz, David Ingle, John 
Hagy, Philip Hedrick and Henry Sechler. The elders 
of the seventh annual meeting, at Lower Stone Church 
in 1837, were Joshua Clapp, Peter Harman, Jacob 
Lantz, Henry Moose and Jacob Berrier. The eighth 
annual meeting was held also at Lower Stone Church 
in 1838, and the elders were John Ramsour, John Peck, 
Christian Faust, Nathaniel Edwards and Jacob Leon- 
ard, Jr. The elders at the ninth annual meeting, held 
at Coble's Church in 1839, were Solomon Ramsour, 



102 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



John Cansler, John C. Barnhardt and Samuel Lantz. 
At the tenth annual meeting, held in St. Matthew's 
Church, 1840, the elders were John File, Jacob Berrier, 
George Albright, Solomon Warlick and John Carpenter. 
At the eleventh annual meeting, at Emanuel's Church, 
in 1841, the elders were Absalom Grimes, Paul Kluttz, 
Geo. P. Shuford, Daniel Loretz, E. L. Shuford, Bern- 
hardt Swing, William Faust and B. Clapp. The 
twelfth annual meeting was held at Brick Church in 
1842. The elders were Jacob Berrier, Bernhardt 
Swing, John Hileman, W. A. Corrier, Jacob Lantz 
and Jacob Ramsour. The thirteenth annual meeting 
(the year marked by such signal encouragement), was 
held at Beck's Church in 1843. The elders were 
Jacob Berrier, John C. Barnhardt, Joshua Clapp, J. 
Ramsour, John Coulter and Bernhardt Swing. Philip 
Hedrick and Jacob Leonard, Jr., were present as ad- 
visory members. 

The list might be continued through many succeed- 
ing years, and these family names, together with oth- 
ers, would be repeated over and over. As a rule the 
families of the Reformed Church in North Carolina 
have remained faithful to their Church. It is to the 
credit of the Reformed Church that on the present 
rolls of membership in all of the older churches are 
found the family names that have clung to the faith 
of the fathers through successive generations. Fol- 
lowing the thirteenth annual meeting, among the 
names of elders already mentioned, there are recorded 
in subsequent meetings the names of Maxwell Warlick, 
Henry F. Ramsour, E. P. Coulter, John Hileman, 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 103 

Solomon Lohr, Wm. Faust, Jos. H. Rauch, Daniel 
Finger, Frederick Holshouser, Joseph Meisenheimer, 
Joseph H. Reinhardt, Jacob Hunsucker, John Peeler, 
Jacob Shupping, Samuel Yokeley, Peter Finger, Moses 
Foil, Solomon Warlick, George Barnhardt, Peter Fink, 
Valentine Leonard and Paul Yost. 

14. The Ministers of the Classis. 

The first session of the North Carolina Classis was 
held in Clapp's (now Brick) Church, in Guilford County, 
Saturday, May 21st, 1831. The ministers present at 
the meeting of Classis were the following: William 
Hauck, John G. Fritchey, D. B. Lerch and John H. 
Crawford. The statistical report for that year shows 
the enrollment of John Brown and George Boger as 
additional members. These were the charter mem- 
bers of the Classis. They have been followed by a 
long line of successors in the past seventy-six years. 
The following is a list of all the ministers whose names 
have appeared on the roll of Classis: 

1. John Brown never attended a session of Classis, 
but the report shows that he was pastor of seven 
churches in Rockingham and Augusta Counties, in 
Virginia. His name disappears from the roll after the 
annual meeting in 1833. 

2. William Hauck at the organization of Classis was 
elected President. He was pastor of the churches in 
Davidson County. His name was erased from the roll 
of Classis in 1837. 

3. John H. Crawford was chosen the first Secretary 
of the Classis, which held its first meeting in one of 



104 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

his churches. He was at the same time pastor of 
four churches in Guilford and Orange Counties. He 
was dismissed to the Classis of Virginia in 1858. 

4. John G. Fritchey was elected Corresponding Sec- 
retary by the Classis in its initial meeting. At the 
time he was pastor of five congregations in Lincoln 
County. He was dismissed to Zion's Classis in 1841. 

5. Daniel B. Lerch was the first Treasurer of Classis, 
and was pastor of four churches in Rowan, Cabarrus 
and Montgomery Counties. He had been ordained by 
the Synod at Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1830, when 
permission was given to organize the new Classis. He 
died while still quite young, March 18, 1834. 

6. George Boger was not present at the first meeting 
of Classis, at Clapp's Church, but attended the second 
meeting, at Leonard's Church, in Davidson County. 
He is reported without a charge. He died June 19, 
1865. 

7. William C. Bennefc first went as a missionary to 
South Carolina. He became a member of the Classis 
in 1833, when he was reported as pastor of six congre- 
gations in the Newberry and Lexington districts of 
South Carolina. He was dismissed to Zion's Classis 
in 1837. 

8. W. C. Rankin was received from the Tennessee 
Synod of the Lutheran Church in 1835. In 1838 he 
went West as a missionary. 

9. John Lantz was ordained August 5, 1838, having 
been licensed by Synod in September, 1837. The 
committee on ordination consisted of Revs. G. A. Leo- 
pold, J. G. Fritchey, J. H. Crawford and Elder Nathan- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 105 

iel Edwards. It was customary in those early days of 
the Classis to appoint elders on ordination committees. 
Rev. G. A. Leopold, of the Maryland Classis, who had 
been invited to a seat as an advisory member, was 
appointed on the above committee of ordination. 
Rev. Lantz was dismissed to the Classis of Virginia in 
1869. 

10. David Crooks was received as a licentiate from 
Zion's Classis, in 1838, and was ordained in October 
of that year by a committee consisting of Revs. J. H. 
Crawford, G. A. Leopold, George Boger and Elder 
Jacob Leonard, Jr. He died January 24, 1859. 

11. George A. Leopold was received from Maryland 
Classis in 1839. He was suspended from the Gospel 
ministry in 1842, and his name disappeared from the 
roll in 1843. 

12. George W. Welker was licensed by the Classis 
March 27, 1842, and was ordained the same day by a 
committee consisting of Revs. J. H. Crawford, J. 
Lantz and Elder D. Clapp. He died July 9, 1894. 

13. S. S. Middlekauff was received as a licentiate 
from Mercersburg Classis in 1842, and was ordained 
August 1, 1842, by a committee consisting of Revs. 
J. H. Crawford, G. W. Welker, J. Lantz and Elder H. 
Schwenk. He died in 1845. 

14. Jeremiah Ingold was licensed by the Classis 
April 27, 1844, and on the same day was ordained by 
a committee consisting of Revs. J. Lantz, S. S. Middle- 
kauff and D. Crooks. He died February 12, 1893. 

15. F. W. Plassman was licensed April 17, 1844, 
and on the same day was ordained by Revs. J. Lantz, 



106 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

S. S. Middlekauff and D. Crooks. He died September 
30, 1848. 

16. Thornton Butler was licensed January 26, 1848, 
and was ordained March 11, 1848, b}^ Revs. G. W. 
Welker, J. Lantz, J. Ingold and Elders Peeler and 
Kluttz. He was dismissed to Illinois Classis in 1869. 

17. C. H. Albert was received as a licentiate from 
Lebanon Classis and was ordained the first Sunday in 
May, 1852, by the whole Classis as a committee. He 
was dismissed to Goshenhoppen Classis in 1853. 

18. William Sorber was received as a licentiate from 
Philadelphia Classis April 13, 1853, and was ordained 
the same day by the Classis as a committee. He was 
dismissed to Philadelphia Classis in 1856. 

19. Gilbert Lane was received as a licentiate from 
the Reformed Dutch Church in 1856, and was ordained 
at the same time by Classis as a committee. He was 
dismissed to the Classis of Schoharrie, Reformed Dutch 
Church, September 19, 1857. 

20. P. Allison Long was licensed Friday before the 
second Sunday in June, 1858, and was ordained 
December 14, 1858, by the Classis as a committee. 
He was dismissed to the Tuscarawas Classis December 
20, 1871. 

21. Samuel J. Fetzer was received from the Virginia 
Classis November 18, 1858. He died August 8, 1861. 

22. A. S. Vaughn was received from the Goshen- 
hoppen Classis May 4, 1860. His name disappears 
from the roll after 1861. He was received a second 
time from the Presbyterian Church, June 14, 1882. 
He was dismissed to the Presbyterian Church March 
24, 1884. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 107 

23. E. Boehringer was received from the Maryland 
Classis in April, 1862. His name does not appear on 
the roll of ministers after his reception. 

24. Jesse W. Cecil was received a licentiate from 
the M. E. Church, April 25, 1862, and was ordained 
July 18, 1863, by Revs. G. W. Welker, P. A. Long, 
J. Ingold and Elders Correll and Peeler. He died 
March 5, 1899. 

25. Thomas Long was licensed April 28, 1862, and 
was ordained the first Sunday in May, 1863, by Revs. 
G. W. Welker, T. Butler, P. A. Long and Elder D. R. 
Hedrick. He died December 25, 1898. 

26. John Ingle was licensed May 25, 1863, and or- 
dained by the Classis as a committee May 23, 1864. 

27. Michael L. Hedrick was licensed May 23, 1864, 
and was ordained January 12, 1873, by Revs. T. Long, 
J. C. Denny and J. W. Cecil. 

28. J. C. Denny was received a licentiate from the 
Presbyterian Church September 15, 1866, and was 
ordained the same day by the Classis as a committee. 
His name was erased from the roll November 14, 1878. 

29. Jacob C. Clapp was licensed April 27, 1867, and 
was ordained May 2, 1869, by Revs. T. Butler, T. Long 
and J. Ingold. 

30. Peter M. Trexler was licensed June 2, 1871, and 
in the same year was ordained by Revs. P. A. Long, 
J. Ingle and J. C. Denny. 

31. John A. Foil was received a licentiate from the 
Philadelphia Classis May 2, 1874, and was ordained 
July 5, 1874, by Revs. J. C. Clapp, P. M. Trexler and 
G. W. Welker. 



108 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

32. Julius H. Shuford was licensed July 4, 1874, and 
was ordained July 5, 1874, by Revs. J. C. Clapp, P. M. 
Trexler and G. W. Welker. He was dismissed to the 
Classis of Shelby, June 25, 1881. He was received the 
second time from the Classis of Northern Illinois, May 
9, 1888, and was dismissed the second time to the 
Classis of Virginia, May 1, 1889. He was received the 
third time April 26, 1894, from the Classis of Virginia. 

33. Robert F. Crooks was licensed May 26, 1877, and 
was ordained the first Sunday in June of the same 
year by Revs. J. A. Foil, J.H. Shuford and J. C. Denny. 
His name was erased July 17, 1888. 

34. G. Dickey Gurley was received from Westmore- 
land Classis June 23, 1881. He was dismissed to the 
Illinois Classis November 25, 1886. 

35. Paul Barringer was licensed June 25, 1881, and 
was ordained the first Sunday in September of the 
same year by Revs. J. C. Clapp, G. D. Gurley and 
J. Ingle. 

36. A. P. Horn was received from Lehigh Classis 
October 20, 1883, as a licentiate, and on the same day, 
by request of Classis, was ordained by a committee 
of the Synod of the Potomac, consisting of Revs. E. R. 
Eschbach, T. F. Hoffmeier and A. S. Weber. He was 
dismissed to the Lehigh Classis January 6, 1885. 

37. Calvin B. Heller was received as a licentiate 
from Maryland Classis June 29, 1884, and was ordained 
June 30, 1884, by Revs. G. D. Gurley, A. P. Horn and 
Paul Barringer. He was dismissed to the Classis of 
Virginia November 17, 1891. He was received a 
second time from the Juniata Classis, October 1, 1902. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 109 

38. Lewis Reiter was licensed and ordained October 
2, 1885; the committee of ordination consisted of Revs. 
J. Ingold, J. A. Foil and G. D. Gurley. He was dis- 
missed to the Classis of Virginia May 7, 1891. 

39. Joseph L. Murphy was licensed October 23, 
1885, and on the same day was ordained by Revs. 
J. Ingold, J. A. Foil and G. D. Gurley. 

40. Jacob C. Leonard was licensed May 4, 1889, and 
was ordained October 10, 1889, by Revs. J. L. Murphy, 
J. C. Clapp and Paul Barringer. 

41. J. M. Luther Lyerly was licensed May 4, 1889, 
and was ordained October 10th, of the same year, by 
Revs. J. L. Murphy, J. C. Clapp and Paul Barringer. 

42. Allen R. Holshouser was received from Wichita 
Classis December 28, 1889. He was dismissed to 
Wichita Classis April 29, 1892. He was received a 
second time from the Miami Classis, November 18, 
1903. 

43. Jesse Richards was received from Tiffin Classis 
May 1, 1890. He was dismissed to Tiffin Classis 
December 12, 1894. 

44. D. P. Lefever was received from Philadelphia 
Classis November 17, 1891. He was dismissed to 
Mercersburg Classis February 16, 1894. 

45. Andrew H. Smith was received a licentiate from 
Schuylkill Classis October 8, 1892, and was ordained 
October 9th, of the same year, by Revs. J. C. Clapp, 
J. A. Foil and J. L. Murphy. He was dismissed to 
Allegheny Classis August 26, 1897. 

46. James D. Andrew was licensed May 6, 1893, 
and was ordained July 30, 1893, by Revs. G. W. Wel- 
ker, J. C. Clapp and J. C. Leonard. 



110 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

47. Harvey A. M. Holshouser was licensed April 
27, 1894, and was ordained May 13, 1894, by Revs. 
J. C. Clapp, A. H. Smith and J. A. Foil. He was dis- 
missed to the Presbyterian Church May 5, 1905. 

48. Wm. H. McNairy was licensed April 27, 1894, 
and was ordained July 29, 1894, by Revs. J. W. Cecil, 
J. C. Leonard and M. L. Hedrick. 

49. B. Frank Davis was received from Miami Classis 
July 28, 1894. He was dismissed to the Presbyterian 
Church November 14, 1901. 

50. A. Shulenberger was received from Maryland 
Classis May 7, 1896. He was dismissed to Virginia 
Classis February 23, 1901. He was received a second 
time from the Classis of Virginia July 10, 1906. 

51. Clarence Clapp was licensed May 9, 1896, and 
was ordained May 31st, of that year, by Revs. J. C. 
Clapp, J C. Leonard, J. W. Cecil and A. H. Smith. 
His name was dropped from the roll May 12, 1906. 

52. Wm. H. Stubblebine was received from Wyom- 
ing Classis January 28, 1897. He was dismissed to 
Miami Classis May 4, 1898. He was received a second 
time from Miami Classis February 28, 1902. He was 
dismissed to Philadelphia Classis May 26, 1904. 

53. Theodore C. Hesson was received a licentiate 
from Gettysburg Classis July 15, 1897, and was or- 
dained July 18th, of that year, by Revs. A. H. Smith, 
J. A. Foil and J. L. Murphy. He was dismissed to 
Gettysburg Classis May 2, 1902. 

54. L. M. Kerschner was received from the East 
Pennsylvania Classis December 30, 1897. He was 
dismissed to the Presbyterian Church April 19, 1900. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. Ill 

55. C. H. Riedesel was received from Ursinus 
Classis December 30, 1S97. He was dismissed to 
Heidelberg Classis November 30, 1903. 

58. VVm. A. Long was received from Juniata Classis 
May 12, 1898. He was dismissed to Philadelphia 
Classis May 10, 1902. 

57. J. N. Faust was received a licentiate from 
Goshenhoppen Classis June 11, 1898. and ordained the 
same day by Revs. Paul Barringer, J. M. L. Lyerly 
and A. Shulenberger. He was dismissed to Philadel- 
phia Classis May 16, 1902. 

58. G. A. Stauffer was received a licentiate from 
East Susquehanna Classis January 7, 1899, and was 
ordained March 12th, of that year, by Revs. J. C. 
Clapp, J. D. Andrew and J. W. Cecil. He was dis- 
missed September 11, 1902, to Lancaster Classis (Ohio 
Synod). 

59. Henry E. Sechler was licensed May 6, 1899, and 
was ordained November 9, of that year, by Revs. 
J. L. Murphy, J. C. Clapp and J. Ingle. 

60. John H. Keller was received a licentiate May 
21, 1901, from West Susquehanna Classis, and was 
ordained June 30, 1901, by Revs. Paul Barringer, 
W. H. McNairy and C. H. Riedesel. 

61. Joshua L. Bowers was licensed May 21, 1901, 
and was ordained July 14, 1901, by Revs. H. A. M. 
Holshouser, J. M. L. Lyerly and Paul Barringer. 

62. Wm. B. Duttera was received a licentiate June 
26, 1901, from Tiffin Classis, and was ordained the 
same day by Revs. J. M. L. Lyerly, W. H. McNairy 
and C. H. Riedesel. 



112 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

63. David E. Bowers was licensed May 17, 1902, 
and was ordained the same day by Revs. W. H. 
Stubblebine, J. D. Andrew and J. H. Keller. 

64. S. W. Beck was licensed May 17, 1902, and was 
ordained March 22, 1903, by Revs. J. L. Murphy, J. C. 
Clapp and J. A. Foil. 

65. W. W. Rowe was licensed May 17, 1902, and was 
ordained July 22, 1902, by Revs. J. C. Leonard, H. A. 
M. Holshouser and D. E. Bowers. 

66. Wm. H. Causey was licensed May 20, 1903, and 
was ordained June 7, 1903, by Revs. J. C. Leonard, 
H. A. M. Holshouser and M. L. Hedrick. 

67. Shuford Peeler was licensed May 20, 1903, and 
was ordained July 12, 1903, by Revs. J. C. Leonard, 
J. D. Andrew and D. E. Bowers. 

68. Chas. W. Warlick was licensed May 20, 1903, 
and on the same day was dismissed to Juniata Classis. 

69. Chas. E. Wehler was received from Philadelphia 
Classis October 3, 1904. 

70. George Albert Snyder was received from Mary- 
land Classis October 3, 1904. 

71. Frederick Cromer was received from Eastern 
Ohio Classis October 29, 1904. He was dismissed to 
the same Classis November 20, 1905. 

72. Lucian W. Showers was received from Clarion 
Classis November 20, 1905. He was dismissed to 
Clarion Classis October 22, 1906. 

73. J. Silor Garrison was received from Allegheny 
Classis May 9, 1906. 

74. Milton Whitener was licensed May 12, 1906, 
and was ordained July 29, 1906, by Revs. J. L. Murphy, 
C. E. Wehler and C. B. Heller. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 113 



75. A. Samuel Peeler was licensed May 12, 1906. 
He was dismissed to St. John's Classis May 12, 1906. 

76. Wm. S. Clapp was licensed May 12, 1906. 

15. Annual Meetings of Classis. 

The following is a list of the places of the annual 
meetings of Classis, together with the names of the 
Presidents : 

1831. Brick Church (Clapp's), in Guilford County. 
Rev. Wm. Hauck, President. 

1832. Pilgrim Church, Davidson County. Rev. JT. 
H. Crawford. 

1833. Savitz's Church, Rowan County. Rev. J. G. 
Fritchey. 

1834. Grace Church, Lincoln County. Rev. J. H. 
Crawford. 

1835. Brick Church. Rev. J. G. Fritchey. 

1836. Pilgrim Church. Rev. W. C. Bennet. 

1837. Lower Stone, Rowan County. Rev. W. C. 
Rankin. 

1838. St. Paul's, Lincoln County. No quorum be- 
ing present, Classis adjourned to Lower Stone Church. 
Rev. J. G. Fritchey. 

1839. Coble's Church, Guilford County. Rev. G. A. 
Leopold. 

1840. St. Matthew's Church, Lincoln County. Rev. 
J. Lantz. 

1841. Emanuel's Church, Davidson County. Rev. 
J. Lantz. 

1842. Savitz's Church, Rowan County. Rev. D. 
Crooks. 



114 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



1843. Beck's, Davidson County. Rev. G. W. 
Welker. 

1844. Brick Church. Rev. D. Crooks. 

1845. St. Matthew's Church. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1846. Grace Church, Rowan County. Rev. J. 
Lantz. 

1847. Emanuel's, Davidson County. Rev. J. H. 
Crawford. 

1848. Brick Church. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1849. Newton. Rev. J. H. Crawford. 

1850. Mt. Zion, Rowan County. Rev. T. Butler. 

1851. Beck's Church. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1852. Brick Church. Rev. T. Butler. 

1853. Lincolnton. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1854. Mt. Gilead, Cabarrus County. Rev. J. Lantz. 

1855. Bethany, Davidson County. Rev. Wm. Sor- 
ber. 

1856. Brick Church. Rev. J. H. Crawford. 

1857. Newton. Rev. J. Lantz. 

1858. Grace, Rowan County. Rev. D. Crooks. 

1859. Pilgrim. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1860. Brick Church. Rev. S. J. Fetzer. 

1861. Grace, Catawba County. Rev. A. S. Vaughn. 

1862. St. Paul's, Rowan County. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1863. New Jerusalem, Davidson County. Rev. T. 
Butler. 

1864. Mt. Hope, Guilford County. Rev. P. A. 
Long. 

1865. Grace, Rowan County. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1866. Daniel's, Lincoln County. Rev. J. W. Cecil. 

1867. Bethany, Davidson County. Rev. T. Long. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 115 



1868. St. Mark's, Alamance County. Rev. J. Ingle. 

1869. Newton. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1870. Mt. Zion, Rowan County. Rev. J. C. Denny. 

1871. Emanuel. Rev. J. C. Clapp. 

1872. Brick Church. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1873. Hickory. Rev. J. W. Cecil. 

1874. Lower Stone. Rev. J. C. Clapp. 

1875. Hebron, Davidson County. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1876. Brick Church. Rev. J. A. Foil. 

1877. Newton. Rev. P. M. Trexler. 

1878. Mt. Zion. Rev. J. Ingle. 

1879. Emanuel. Rev. J. H. Shuford. 

1880. Brick Church. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1881. Salem, Lincoln County. Rev. M. L. Hed- 
rick. 

1882. Mt. Zion. Rev. J. Ingold. 

1883. Pilgrim. Rev. G. D. Gurley. 

1884. Mt. Hope. Rev. G. D. Gurley. 

1885. St. John's, Catawba County. Rev. P. M. 
Trexler. 

1886. St. Luke's, Rowan County. Rev. J. C. Clapp, 
D.D. 

1887. Concord. Rev. Paul Barringer. 

1888. Mt. Carmel, Davidson County. Rev. T. 
Long. 

1889. Brick Church. Rev. C. B. Heller. 

1890. Maiden. Rev. P. M. Trexler. 

1891. Bethel, Stanly County. Rev. J. L. Murphy. 

1892. Hedrick's Grove, Davidson County. Rev. 
J. C. Clapp, D.D. 

1893. Bethel, Catawba County. Rev. J. M. L. 
Lyerly. 



116 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



1894. New Gilead. Rev. P. M. Trexler, D.D. 

1895. Calvary, Davidson County. Rev. J. A. Foil, 
Ph.D. 

1896. Conover. Rev. A. H. Smith. 

1897. Mt. Hope. Rev. J. L. Murphy. 

1898. Newton. Rev. Paul Barringer. 

1899. Lower Stone. Rev. W. A. Long, Ph.D. 

1900. Beulah, Davidson County. Rev. A. Shulen- 
berger. 

1901. Faith. Rev. J. D. Andrew. 

1902. Daniel's, Lincoln County. Rev. W. H. Mc- 
Nairy. 

1903. Hickory. Rev. H. A. M. Holshouser. 

1904. High Point. Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D. 

1905. Lexington. Rev. J. L. Bowers. 

1906. Bethel, Stanly County. Rev. C. B. Heller. 

1907. Burlington. Rev. D. E. Bowers. 



CHAPTER IV. 



The Eastern Group of Churches. 
1. The Brick Church, Guilford County. 

(This sketch is largely taken from "Colonial Records.") 

THE fathers of the Reformed Church in this State, 
it appears, never imagined that it could be of 
any interest to future generations who they were, or 
what they did to perpetuate the Church they loved, 
for they have left scarcely any records of their deeds 
of piety. It is a matter of much regret that they 
were so indifferent to an honest Christian fame. It 
is true that in one sense they were alive to the proper 
results of their lives, for they were studiously anxious 
to bestow upon their children churches, schools and 
the means of grace. Greatly have some of their de- 
scendants undervalued the faith and constancy of 
these fathers. The reverence that would delight itself 
in collecting the deeds of these Christian pioneers of 
the faith in North Carolina, so as to form them into a 
memorial to the praise of these good men who lived 
and died in the Southern wilderness, could one hun- 
dred years ago have found many valuable traditions 
among those who then were the fathers of these 
churches ; but alas, they have been permitted to carry 
these historic treasures with them to the voiceless 
grave, and there, with their dust, sleep the recollec- 

(117) 



118 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

tions of their youth that made the unwritten history 
of the infant churches in the South. 

Each inch of ground near the "Brick Church" is 
historic. Near it lies the uncared-for famous battle- 
ground of the Revolution. The church is the best 
way-mark to direct the traveler or antiquarian to the 
graves of the brave men who, on American soil, shed 
the first blood in resistance to tyranny. All around 
the church, too, are scattered the unknown graves of 
men who. during the Revolution, about the time of 
the battle of "Guilford Court House," fell in a skir- 
mish in the county between a body of British soldiers 
and some mountain men from the western counties 
of the State. He who journeys westward through our 
State on the old Salisbury road leading from Hillsboro 
to that place, by a shorter detour, will find himself on 
the eminence where stands the church near the public 
highway, and from thence looks over a scene of deep 
historic incidents — scenes the memory of which has 
almost faded away, because they have found no his- 
torian to tell the living generation of those deeds 
sacred to freedom and religion. 

Late on Saturday evening in the autumn of 1748, 
three emigrant families on their way from Oley, Berks 
County, Pennsylvania, to Western North Carolina, in 
quest of a new home, arrived near where stands St. 
Paul's or Grave's Church. They pitched tents for the 
night near a spring of living water, and soon each one 
was busy in his or her appropriate work of preparation. 
They seem to forget the fatigue of long travel, and 
had one then looked in upon them he would have seen 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 119 

that they looked forward to the coming Sabbath as a 
day of rest. They conscientiously kept God's holy 
Word while journeying slowly to their distant homes 
in the wild woods. The fathers of the " Brick Church" 
were Sabbath-keeping men. How many of the bless- 
ings which their children have since enjoyed may be 
traced to this keeping of God's command we cannot 
say; yet, no doubt, God has remembered children's 
children for this hallowed Sabbath, there kept by the 
brothers George Valentine and Ludwig Clapp, or Klapp, 
and Mr. Hunter, their brother-in-law. These Penn- 
sylvanians were descendants of emigrants from Hesse, 
in Germany, and all members individually and by 
inheritance of the Reformed Church. The sound of 
the energetic strokes of the axes of the emigrants in 
felling wood to last their camp-fires over the Lord's 
Day, echoing through that dense forest, attracted to 
their encampment a settler living near by, ever on the 
watch for passing emigrants, to hear news from the old, 
far-distant home. In this case, to their mutual joy, 
they proved to have been old neighbors and acquaint- 
ances in Pennsylvania. 

By the advice and under the direction of this man, 
in the beginning of the next week, they examined the 
land unoccupied and contiguous to his. The brothers 
Clapp made choice of lands on Beaver Creek, which 
proved to be of the very best; but Hunter pushed 
farther westward to the forks of the Yadkin, whither 
he had started. The Beaver Creek settlers bought 
their lands of one McCulloh, who was the agent of 
the Colonial proprietor of North Carolina. These 



120 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



two families were the original founders of the Reformed 
Church in Guilford County. In a few years, however, 
they were followed and joined by the Albrights, Court- 
ners, Mays, Swings (Schwencks), Greesons, Ingolds, 
Hoffmans, Fousts (Fausts), Ingles, Linebergers, Weit- 
zells, Sharps (Scherbs), Shepherds (Schaeffers) and 
others, whose descendants made the " Brick Church" 
congregation afterwards in its palmiest days. After 
the cabins were roofed and patches cleared, a school- 
house was erected hard by where the " Brick Church" 
now stands. No doubt even then the members of the 
Reformed Church had a definite purpose at some 
future day to there build themselves a house in which 
to worship the God of their fathers. The tradition 
still lingers about here that the location of this church 
was determined by a dream. The wife of George 
Clapp, who was an Albright, and who was the great- 
grandmother of Joshua Clapp, before she left her 
Pennsylvania home had distinctly presented to her 
mind in a dream the scenery surrounding the cemetery 
in which she should be buried. The scenery of her 
vision was found in a portion of the farm purchased 
by her husband, and a marked feature of which was 
a large rock. On the hill in the cemetery adjoining 
the church rests the dust of this pilgrim, and at its 
foot near the spring may be found the enduring rock 
that served as the reason for the choice of this burial- 
ground. There was no regularly organized congrega- 
tion until about 1770, although several persons had 
visited the communities or churches in this State pre- 
vious to this time in the character of ministers, although 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 121 

it is a matter of uncertainty whether they had author- 
ity to exercise the functions of this sacred office. Of 
these, tradition mentions one Martin, a Swiss, about 
the year 1759; another, Dupert, in 1764. Perhaps, in 
other parts of the church, more extended or more re- 
liable records can be obtained of these men. The first 
permanent ministrations of the Gospel enjoyed by 
these people was under the pastorate of the Rev. 
Samuel Suther, who preached in a small log-house 
built by the Reformed and Lutherans, where Low's 
(Lutheran) Church now stands, and about a mile south 
of the "Brick Church." The Reformed worshiped 
there until during the war of the Revolution, when 
owing to some quarrel the door was locked, and the 
Reformed Church, choosing rather to suffer wrong 
and sacrifice their property than to persist in the use 
of their right at the expense of peace and quiet, with- 
drew. The real or ostensible cause for this violent 
and summary action cannot now be certainly deter- 
mined; but doubtless it grew out of the question of 
the war itself, for while the Reformed almost to a 
man were patriots, the Lutherans with equal una- 
nimity were loyalists. They at once removed to their 
school-house, and soon built a new and larger one to 
serve also for a church. Suther resided on a farm of 
his own, about one mile east of the church, on the old 
Salisbury road, near where a Dr. Denny used to live. 
It was afterwards owned by Mr. Banks Holt, of Gra- 
ham, N. C. 

Rev. Samuel Suther was a Swiss, born May 18, 1722. 
His father, in the youth of Samuel, sought a home for 



122 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



his wife and twelve or thirteen children in the new 
world, where he supposed he would be best able to 
provide for them. The voyage across the ocean in 
those days was not short nor always safe nor pleasant. 
The vessel on which this Swiss family sailed was more 
than four months on its passage, and encountered 
thirteen severe storms, and being badly crippled, was 
compelled to put into an English port, where it was 
detained several months for repairs. While here the 
father and two daughters died and were interred on 
English soil. The 8th of October, 1739, when the 
vessel was at last hove in sight of the shore, was a 
terribly cold day. The provisions were exhausted 
when she encountered the severest storm of the voy- 
age. So weak and exhausted were the passengers 
that 220 perished before they could be got to land; 
On the 10th Samuel Suther, more dead than alive, 
was brought to shore, where he was taken in care by 
an Englishman, who nursed him back to conscious life. 
He alone of his father's family survived the wreck. 
It is probable that, being a Swiss, he had received in 
his native land a good education, he being seventeen 
years old when he left the land of his birth. German 
school teachers were in demand in every German 
community, and Samuel Suther found employment 
as teacher for some years in the provinces of Virginia, 
Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. In 
1749 he taught the German school connected with 
the Reformed Church in Philadelphia. In June, 1768, 
he was preaching in Mecklenburg County (now Cabar- 
rus), North Carolina. The tradition among his de- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 123 

scendants is, that he was ordained in Philadelphia 
and had a certificate to that effect, but it is lost. 

He was an ardent and fearless patriot, and was very 
obnoxious to the Tories, and was in full sympathy 
with the men who signed the Mecklenburg Declaration, 
in whose midst he had lived. 

The Reformed members almost to a man were at 
one with the preacher in his patriotic sentiments. It 
is now not known that he was in full sympathy with 
the work of the Regulators, but of his church members 
were a number who were present and took part in the 
disastrous battle of Alamance. So active and out- 
spoken was he afterwards in the cause of the colonies 
to throw off the yoke of Great Britain, that he became 
a marked man for the hate of loyalists and was driven 
from his home, having to seek refuge among his friends. 

During the Revolutionary War a detachment of the 
British army, led by some Tories, on their way to 
Guilford Court House, encamped on his farm and 
devastated it, destroying his grain and cattle, while he 
was forced to flee for his life and hide himself. They 
ravaged the farms of his parishioners far and near, 
destroying their means of living, insulting their women, 
and abusing the children, because their fathers were in 
the patriot army, and their minister was their leader. 

Suther was a man of learning and of no mean ability, 
and was held to be quite an orator in this German 
community. He was intelligently and sincerely at- 
tached to the doctrines and order of the Reformed 
Church as learned in his childhood's home, in the 
land of the Great Reformer, Zuinglius. For his 



124 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



church and his adopted country he was ever ready to 
do battle. Its liberty as a republic would only make 
it more like his own land of Tell. 

He was too impatient to await attack. Strong in 
the belief of the doctrines he held and taught, he was 
ever ready to do battle to all gainsayers. It was his 
delight to sally forth on adventures as a polemical 
knight-errant, and it is quite probable that for one of 
his powerful and sarcastic attacks on the Lutheran 
peculiar Sacramental doctrines, and on their Toryism, 
he was excluded from Low's Church. Subsequently 
Mr. Suther moved to Mecklenburg County (now 
Cabarrus), where he remained but a short time; and 
thence in 1786 moved to Orangeburg, South Carolina, 
where he died September 28, 1788. At this day his 
descendants still may be found in Cabarrus County, 
who well may be proud of the name and work of him 
who did so much in the early history of North Caro- 
lina as a colony and as a State, and who laid the foun- 
dation of churches that, still flourishing, hold the 
faith he preached and cherish his memory. The Elders 
of the Reformed Church during this period were Lud- 
wig Clapp, Matthias Schwenck and George Cortner, 
Esq. This last was a prominent man in those days. 
He was the business man of the congregation, and 
was perhaps the best master of the English language 
in this community. Without advantages of education, 
he was endowed with a fine mind, of sound judgment, 
and sterling probity. He was for many years the 
magistrate for this part of the county, and few men 
ever sat on the bench who brought to the discharge 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 125 



of its duties higher qualities of a pure heart or clear 
head. Tradition loves to dwell on his virtues as 
patriot, magistrate and Christian; and this we record 
as a memorial of a name soon to be forgotten, for none 
longer lives in this State bearing his worthy name. 
He was the great-grandfather of Rev. J. C. Clapp, 
D.D., of Newton, N. C. 

Excluded from their place to worship God after the 
manner of their fathers, the Reformed congregation 
was not content to do without a place of worship. 
Of course the school-house site was chosen on which 
to erect their demolished altars, and few lovelier 
spots can be found so well adapted for the purpose of 
a church. The foundation of their first log church 
may still be seen extending beyond the eastern wall 
of the old school-house. It was a large building to 
be formed of logs, and few churches of that day, when 
all were of logs, were capable of seating so many per- 
sons. The members who were few in number, first 
settlers in a new country, with no trade and no means 
of making money, found themselves unable to build 
a church. The means of life not raised on their farms, 
or created by their hands, had to be brought from 
Pennsylvania, and whatever they had to sell or ex- 
change was conveyed thither in the same manner. 
But their poverty and perplexity could not extinguish 
their purpose to have a house of worship. They be- 
thought themselves of the wealth of their kindred in 
Pennsylvania, of their fine churches, their numbers 
and prosperity, and determined to appeal to them, 
presenting the two-fold plea of affinity of blood and 



126 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

by faith. They accordingly sent their pastor Suther 
and Elder George Cortner on this mission. The result 
of this first and only effort of this church in seeking 
pecuniary aid in the east is unknown. One fruit of 
that mission was a Communion Cup, the gift of the 
church at Berne, in Berk's County. It bore the in- 
scription: "Von der Berner Kirche." For nearly a 
century it was used by God's children in remembering 
the Lord Jesus. In 1871 it was consumed in the fire 
that destroyed the residence of James M. Shaw, where 
it had been placed for safe keeping during the Civil 
War. 

By some means the rude church edifice was com- 
pleted, but now by the time this end was attained, 
their pastor has gone, and there is none to be had to 
watch over this flock. The voice of prayer and praise 
is not heard in their new sanctuary on the Lord's Day. 
This serious want caused the piety of these venerable 
men to be expressed in still another form. The recol- 
lections of Sabbaths happily spent in the churches 
where their youthful feet carried them, the value of 
the preached Word, and the stated services of God's 
House were now felt as of intense value, and they could 
not endure the thought of passing the Sabbath without 
instruction in neglect of divine worship. The habit 
of their childhood irrepressibly demands that the 
voice of God be heard on the Sabbath when they as- 
semble. The consistory ordered that Sabbath service 
should be continued, services opened by prayer and 
praise, and that Jacob Clapp of Ludwig should con- 
duct the services, assisted by Mr. Scherer, the school- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 127 

master. He was superior in education to the brethren 
of that day, and with a fine voice and was a good reader. 
When on the Sabbath this congregation devoutly 
assembled to worship God, they had prepared their 
hearts and minds by service of song and prayer, then 
listened to a sermon in their own language; one of 
Dr. Conrad Nistz's sermons was read; those "Pos- 
auner der Ewigkeit"; those "Deiner Wort en" melting 
and edifying that humble assembly. Thus was kept 
alive reverence for God's house. Their hearts were 
warmed and purified by those words of fire. Thus 
was nurtured a piety that loved sound doctrine, valued 
a stated ministry, an orderly worship, and cherished 
a strong attachment to the church of their youth. 
The records in the handwriting of Suther show but 
two communions during his ministry. One in 1773, 
when 17 were added to the church; the other in 1776, 
when 23 were confirmed. During this period Christian 
Foust and Ludwig Clapp, of Ludwig, were Elders. 
Ingold and Leinberger were Deacons. After a vacancy 
of three or four years, the congregation secured the 
services of the Rev. Mr. Bithahn, then residing in Lin- 
coln County. This was in 1786. Mr. George Clapp, 
grandfather of Captain Joshua Clapp, sent his wagon 
and team those weary one hundred and twenty miles 
to convey his goods to Guilford, and then settled him 
on a plantation of his own on the banks of the Ala- 
mance, afterwards owned by Captain William Albright. 
A few years ago there still tarried with us those who 
remembered this minister, and to them his memory 
was exceedingly precious. He confirmed the late 



128 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Jacob Clapp, grandfather of Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., 
of Newton. His ministry, probably, did not reach 
two years. No record of any of his ministerial acts is 
found in the " Church Book." His death was very 
sudden. He had preached on the Sabbath on one of 
the parables of our Lord, and subsequent events made 
the sermon so impressive that it was long afterwards 
spoken of by those who heard it. He was invited to 
dine with George Clapp, who resided near the church. 
He declined the invitation on the plea that he felt 
unwell and preferred at once to go home. He did so, 
and soon after reaching there was called to dinner. 
He seated himself, invoking the divine blessing, and 
had eaten but a few mouthfuls when he sank down 
from his chair, and was scarcely removed to his bed 
before his spirit was gone to that blessed world, the 
reality and happiness of which he had been depicting 
to his people a few hours before. The news of the sad 
event fell with crushing weight on his flock, so soon 
and so unlooked for made desolate. The day of his 
burial was a day of weeping, and the congregation 
testified their affection for a beloved minister by re- 
fusing to have his corpse carried to the place of burial 
in a wagon, as was the custom, but bore it full two 
miles on a bier on their shoulders. Their affection 
needed one more expression that should witness for 
future generations the last resting place of his precious 
dust. Like that of the great and venerated Calvin at 
Geneva, the grave of Bithahn no man knows. It is 
one among a number of undistinguished graves a few 
yards from the present entrance to the graveyard. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 129 

Would that it were otherwise, and that we could point 
to his grave, but he lies sleeping, surrounded by those 
who bore him to his burial, alike unknown, and with 
them Christ shall wake him. He is not forgotten. 
This may have occurred about 1789. 

During the twelve succeeding years, the church was 
unable to secure a pastor. The Rev. Andrew Loretz, 
of Lincoln County, during this period, visited Guilford 
quarter-yearly. During this term, doubtless the prac- 
tice of reading sermons on the Sabbath was kept up. 
The first ministerial act of Father Loretz recorded is 
the confirmation of 14 persons in 1788, also of 29 in 
1791; October, 1793, of 32 persons; and in 1795, of 5 
persons. 

In February, 1801, commenced the ministry of Rev. 
Henry Diefenbach, who was brought up under the 
ministry of Father Brown of Virginia. His ministry 
terminated in 1807, on the 22d of March. During his 
ministry our records first give the number of com- 
municants that may have communed on each occa- 
sion. But little impress was made upon the character 
of the church by this ministry, in the way of moulding 
and polishing it. His dismissal in the end showed 
that their appreciation of the ministerial character 
was far above his own. ' He removed and settled over 
some churches in the east. Jacob Clapp, of Ludwig, 
and John Graves (Greff), were Elders at the time. 
The visits of Father Loretz were now resumed, and for 
fourteen years this church had no regular minister. 
In those days the hearts of this people were loyal to 
their own church, indeed, or they had not so patiently 



130 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

waited for better days. About the year 1812, Captain 
William Albright was sent to the "Coetus" with a 
"Bittschrift," requesting that a minister be sent to 
visit the destitute churches in Carolina, and to secure 
a pastor for the "Klappe Kirche," as it was still 
called. Some one at Synod who took an interest in 
those poor churches recommended to him J. R. Reily, 
then a young minister, as the very man suitable for 
the work, could he succeed in prevailing on him to 
undertake it. During the year 1813 by order of the 
"Coetus" Mr. Reily visited North Carolina and spent 
some time among the Guilford Churches. By his 
agreeable manners, winning address and talent, he 
won his way to the hearts of the people, and so popu- 
lar did he become, that his name became a common 
one bestowed by mothers on their children. 

He catechized a class of 57 catechumens, and con- 
firmed them on the 16th of October, 1813. That com- 
munion was memorial in the history of the church, 
and aged persons were wont to refer to it with emo- 
tions of joy. At this time the ancient log church was 
dilapidated, and it had been determined to remove it 
and put up a frame building in its stead; but at the 
suggestion of Rev. Mr. Reily, it was agreed to put up 
one of brick. So liberal and harmonious was the con- 
gregation then, that no difficulty was had in raising 
funds for its erection. These were the church's palmy 
days, when Captain Albright, Jacob Clapp, George 
Clapp, Barney Clapp, Col. Daniel Clapp, Daniel Al- 
bright and others, who have now all ceased from their 
labors, were leaders in the church. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 131 

The house was built probably in 1814, but owing to 
a defect in the foundation, the wall gave way and it 
was never finished. However, it was used until 1841, 
when the walls were taken down and it was rebuilt and 
remodelled. It was perhaps the first brick church in 
all that region, and became thus distinctively known 
as "The Brick Church." Its former name of "Clapp's 
Church," "Der Klappe Kirche," in time gave place to 
the new name, and now no one hears " Clapp's Church." 
Still no permanent ministry could be secured for this 
church; but in 1818 Mr. Hauck, who then or after- 
wards settled in Davidson County, visited the " Brick 
Church" and held a communion. In 1817 Rev. John 
Ebaugh visited this church and catechized, and on the 
10th of October, confirmed 27 persons and adminis- 
tered the Lord's Supper to 166. In 1821 Rev. John 
Rudy, who had been sent together with Rev. Mr. 
Knouse, to catechize, baptize and confirm the young, 
and preach and hold communion in North and South 
Carolina churches, accepted a call from churches in 
Guilford and Orange Counties, North Carolina, in- 
cluding the "Brick Church." It was a blessed day 
for the church when Rev. Rudy became its pastor. 
His pastorate continued until 1825, and was a very 
prosperous one for the church. He was a man of 
undoubted piety and energy. After a successful min- 
istry of four years he removed to New York. His 
removal was occasioned or accelerated by a feud 
between two wings of the then influential Clapp fam- 
ily in which the pastor's family unfortunately became 
involved. It was a sad day for the church when its 



132 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

pastor thus fled from its spirit of strife. For the two 
or three years succeeding the removal of Rev. Rudy, 
the consistory employed the Rev. William Paisley 
of the Presbyterian Church (as a supply) to preach 
for them. At Christmas, 1828, God once more gave 
this church a pastor of their own communion. The 
Rev. John H. Crawford then assumed the pastorate. 
It was now that the transition from the German to the 
English language was made in the pulpit service. 
For the welfare of the church this was none too soon. 
The pastorate of Rev. Crawford closed September 30, 
1840, being almost twelve years. In November, 1841, 
he was succeeded by Rev. G. W. Welker, whose pas- 
torate continued until 1893. 

Allusions have been made once or twice to the posi- 
tion of the members of this church in the struggle 
between the British Crown and the colonies. The 
battle-ground of the Regulators was in the heart of 
the congregation, and its members were in this first 
conflict for the rights of the people. An aged lady 
(Judith Clapp) told Dr. Welker that she distinctly 
remembered being on the battle-ground that morning, 
in company with her mother and some other women, 
and that her uncle came where they were seated under 
a tree, and told them they had better go home for 
there would be bloody work there soon; at the same 
time pulling off his waist-coat he threw it over the 
limb of a tree. They didn't reach their home, which 
was just across Beaver Creek, and not a mile away, 
before they heard the firing and soon several of the 
wounded men were brought to their house. Tobias 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 133 

Clapp was taken prisoner by Tryon, and carried to 
Hillsboro, but by some means he escaped or was 
released. He was a Regulator and a most uncom- 
promising liberty man. In this battle it is related 
that from behind a tree one Peter Cortner fired twenty- 
one deliberate shots with his rifle at Tryon's men. 
Captain Weitzell was a member of the "Brick Church." 
His company was at the Battle of Guilford Court 
House, and was mainly made up of members of the 
Reformed Church. This company was detailed to 
guard prisoners. Among those present were: William 
Albright, Matthias Schwenk, Jacob Clapp, Tobias 
Clapp, Barney Clapp, then a youth of sixteen years. 
The only Tory among the Clapps was a brother of the 
patriot Tobias. He was taken prisoner by the Ameri- 
cans and brought into camp. When Tobias saw him 
his indignation was aroused, and he said to his com- 
panions: "Dieser Kerl will ich behuten" — determined 
he should not escape. In the cemetery, sloping off 
from the east wall of the " Brick Church," more than 
half the distance from the gate to the eastern wall of 
the yard, immediately opposite the entrance, is a low 
soap-stone, with scarcely legible characters. Stoop- 
ing, you can with difficulty decipher its inscription. 
It marks the grave of Captain William Albright, who 
was a native of Pennsylvania. He was an Elder and 
one of the most efficient members. It was his custom 
in his old age always to walk on the Sabbath to the 
" Brick Church" from his home on the Alamance, 
more than two miles. Betimes on Sabbath morning, 
his erect and stately form could be seen coming down 



134 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

the road to the church, dressed after the old fashion, 
with buckles on his shoes and staff in his hand. Seldom 
was his place vacant in the house of God. His deep 
interest in his church was shown by his visit to Synod 
to plead in person for a minister. Not only was he a 
valuable church member and exemplary man of God, 
but he was also an ardent and incorruptible patriot, 
who was relied upon by his compatriots of the Revo- 
lution. During the time that the army of General 
Greene was in this region, and when the Tories were 
exceedingly troublesome and daring, Captain Albright, 
Barney Ingle, Tobias Clapp and Eli Newlin were sent 
to Hillsboro to carry powder to the army, and by their 
knowledge of the way, and courage, succeeded in 
escaping the Tories and getting back with it into camp. 
Captain Albright died in 1839. 

2. Stoner's Reformed Church (Steiner's), Guilford 
County. 

The second church in respect of age in the old Guil- 
ford Charge was the St oner Church. Rev. Weyberg 
was the first pastor, and possibly organized the con- 
gregation. However, he was preceded by one Lein- 
bach, a foreign German. The founders of this church 
were the Albrights (Albrechts), Fausts, Basons, Eph- 
lands, Gerhards, Loys, Longs, Shaddies (Schades), 
Steiners, Neases, Trollingers, Sharps (Scherbs), and 
others whose descendants still people that fertile 
region on the waters of the Haw River, Alamance and 
Stinking Quarter. These immigrants were mostly 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 135 

from the counties of Schuylkill and Berks in Pennsyl- 
vania, and from Maryland. Their house of worship, 
in order to be central to the widely-scattered settle- 
ments, was erected on the point of land formed by the 
confluence of Alamance and Stinking Quarter streams. 
The place was very inconvenient of access, and this 
may account largely for its decadence. In its earliest 
days Jacob Albright, Peter Sharp and John Faust 
were the Elders; Philip Snotherly and David Eph- 
land, the Deacons. This congregation fared as the 
other Reformed Churches in the colony for want of 
stated ministerial services, and was dependent on the 
occasional visits of Loretz, Hauck and others until 
1821, when Rev. John Rudy became the pastor of the 
charge, and was succeeded three years after his dis- 
mission by Rev. J. H. Crawford, who in turn was 
succeeded in 1841 by Rev. G. W. Welker. Owing to 
various causes the congregation for several years was 
without pastoral ministrations, and the house of wor- 
ship became dilapidated, was allowed to go down and 
finally passed off the roll. 

3. Barton Reformed Church, Randolph County. 

The northeast corner of this county was peopled, 
as Guilford, by Germans from Pennsylvania. At an 
early day the Reformed and Lutherans built a union 
church, still known as "Richlands." Owing perhaps 
to the same causes that made the separation in the 
"Low" Church, the Reformed people soon moved to 
a house of their own, built near tne village of Liberty, 
on the road that led from Guilford Court House to 



136 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Cross Creek, or Fayetteville. The old log house was 
still standing a few years ago on a parcel of land con- 
taining 24 acres and 32 poles, conveyed by John 
Collier to the "Calvinistic Congregation" for ten 
pounds. The deed bears date April 28, 1791. The 
deed conveys the parcel of land to said Calvinistic 
Congregation and their succeeding congregations for- 
ever, and here theBrowers, Keims and other adherents 
of the Calvinistic and Reformed Churches worshiped 
God after the manner of their fathers. However, 
owing to the dearth of ministers this place was neg- 
lected. It was still under the oversight of Rev. John 
Rudy a living church; but was, under succeeding pas- 
tors, suffered to fall into decay, and now has no regular 
organization. 

4. Mt. Hope Reformed Church, Guilford County. 

The Mt. Hope congregation of the Guilford Charge 
was organized by the Rev. G. W. Welker, D.D., with 
members who came from Coble's Church, a union 
Lutheran and Reformed Church, about 1847 or 1848. 
Dr. Welker had preached on Sunday evenings at 
Neece's School House for some time near where the 
church was afterwards built. Then a brush arbor was 
built, which soon gave way to a better one covered 
with boards. The first church, a brick building, was 
erected in 1851. The mason work was done by Henry 
Ryder, the wood work by Daniel Welker and Elias 
Neece. The land was given by David Neece. The 
principal families who were members and helped build 
the church were the Fousts, Neeces, Clapps, Corsbies, 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 137 

Phipps, and others. John Foust, Christian Foust, 
John Corbsie and John W. Phipps were the first Elders. 
Dr. A. A. Phipps led the singing, taught the first Bible 
class, and the first public school. The first person 
buried in the cemetery was Emanuel C. Phipps. The 
first funeral sermon preached in the church was by- 
Rev. Simon Scherer, a Lutheran minister. Elder John 
Foust was the first Superintendent of the Sunday 
School and served until his death in 1861. He was 
one of the best of men, a sincere and earnest Christian. 
He loved God's Word and his fellow men. The 
Sunday School at Mount Hope has never closed its 
doors, and now numbers about 140 members. For 
more than a quarter of a century Elder J. R. Woods 
has been Superintendent. Dr. Welker's ashes rest in 
the " God's Acre" near the church he loved and served 
so long and faithfully. Mary R. Neece, wife of Chris- 
tian Neece, was the first person confirmed after the 
church was organized. Every fall up to the beginning 
of the Civil War a campmeeting was held, at which 
Revs. Fetzer, Butler and Dr. Ingold did the preaching. 
Between the years 1854 and 1858 a large number of 
middle-aged men, heads of families, were converted 
and joined the church, and a great change for good 
was made in the community. One memorable instance 
of these meetings was the conversion of Henry Shep- 
ard. He had been a slave to strong drink. He often 
said that from the hour of his conversion God took 
away all his taste for drink. He lived and died a 
monument of God's grace. The church suffered more 
or less during the war. After it was over it again 



138 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

revived. The old church having become too small, 
about 1875 or 1876 the present church was built. In 
the fall of 1878 a protracted meeting was held at which 
Rev. J. W. Cecil did the preaching. His wife who was 
an earnest Christian worker was with him. God's 
Spirit was poured out upon the church as never before, 
and on October 13, 1878, 64 united with the church. 
It was a blessed day. How the people and the old 
pastor rejoiced together! The most of them were 
young men and women in the beginning of life. Mt. 
Hope is justly proud of her young men who have gone 
to other fields. Among them are Charles A. Starr, 
who died in early manhood just as he was beginning 
to preach; Rev. W. H. McNairy, pastor at Lenoir, 
N. C. ; C. B. McNairy, M.D., a successful physician at 
the same place; Charles H. Mebane, a lawyer and ex- 
President of Catawba College, at Newton, N. C, and 
ex-State Superintendent of Public Instruction; Rev. 
J. D. Andrew, of Burlington, N. C, who was for some 
years the popular pastor of the Guilford Charge; and 
student Clarence Woods, who is preparing for the min- 
istry. The church now has a membership of 200, 
and although without a pastor for nearly five years, 
she is strong and vigorous, ready and willing to do the 
Master's service. 

Mt. Hope Church is a monument to its founder, 
Rev. Dr. Geo. W. Welker, a brief sketch of whose life 
follows. 

REV. GEORGE WILLIAM WELKER, D.D. 

George William Welker, eldest son of Daniel and 
Anna M. Welker, was born near Greencastle, Penn- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 139 

sylvania, November 3, 1817. His mother began his 
rudimentary training in letters and religion in his early 
childhood. He fitted for college partly under Rev. 
Robert Kennedy, a Presbyterian minister. He took 
his literary and theological course at Mercersburg, 
graduating with distinction in 1841. His eulogy on 
Dr. Rauch, a rare production for one of his age, was 
one of the incidents of his college life, for which he was 
chosen by his fellows. It was published in pamphlet 
form and copies may yet be found. The late Rev. 
Jeremiah Ingold, D. D., his bosom friend through a 
long life, and he left Mercersburg for North Carolina 
in the fall of 1841 in a private conveyance, one fur- 
nishing the horse, the other the vehicle. His diary 
of the journey is a vivid picture of the social, intel- 
lectual and spiritual young man, and of the life and 
customs of the people on the route. It breathes 
fervent love for home, kindred and native land; con- 
tains keen observations and discriminating criticisms 
of what he saw and heard; gives a clear view of his 
varied emotions of joy, hope and anxiety as to what 
the future may bring forth; and through it all a firm 
trust in the leadings of his Father's hand, and abso- 
lute loyalty to His service. This diary is a prophecy 
of his future life and work. On Saturday, October 
23d, the young theologues reached Father Brown's 
at Bridgewater, Virginia, and spent the Sabbath with 
him. Dr. Welker preached and was greatly encour- 
aged by this veteran of the Cross. After sixteen 
wearisome days they reached Dr. Ingold 's home and 
the " Brick Church," the scene of Dr. Welker's future 



140 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

life's work. After preaching in various parts of the 
Classis during the fall and winter, he received and 
accepted a call from the Guilford Charge, and in 
March, 1842, was installed to a pastorate that lasted 
fifty-one years. Even a bird's-eye view of this event- 
ful career cannot be crowded into this sketch. The 
strength and vigor of his sermons brought him into 
immediate public notice, and made him the idol of 
his own people and of the Classis. One of the younger 
ministers of the Classis, a native of Davidson County, 
speaks of him thus: "Dr. Welker, for many years the 
most striking personage in the Classis, was very popu- 
lar in Davidson County. He and Rev. Thomas Long 
were great friends. I remember how we looked for- 
ward to the visits of Dr. Welker. He usually came 
once a year and preached at the protracted meeting. 
These meetings were great occasions and the people 
from the different congregations would attend the 
meeting at which Dr. Welker was to preach. If he 
came to Bethany the other congregations would attend 
services at that place; if he came to Pilgrim, we all 
went to Pilgrim. He had only one eye and wore 
glasses. His voice bore the German accent. His 
sermons made a profound impression. Once when 
Classis met at Emanuel's Church, I, a small boy, was 
left at home and the rest of the family went. That 
night when they returned with some visitors the con- 
versation to a late hour was about the great sermon 
preached by Dr. Welker. His text was: 'Circum- 
scission nor uncircumscission availeth anything, but 
a new creature in Christ Jesus.' While listening to 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 141 



those fireside conversations about the great sermons 
my spirit was stirred within me to be a preacher of the 
Gospel. Some of his great sermons were preached 
upon some of the texts: 'Pitched his tent towards 
Sodom; 7 ! 'Remember Lot's Wife;' 'Forty days and 
Nineveh shall be overthrown.' Dr. Welker was known 
to reprove without fear anyone who made any dis- 
turbance while he was preaching. I remember at 
Bethany a number of young people sitting in the gal- 
lery began talking while he was preaching. He stopped, 
looked them straight in the face and said, 'I have 
preached to all kinds of persons; I have preached to 
the convicts in the penitentiary, but I never preached 
to anyone who behaved as badly as you.' There was 
no more trouble." 

Dr. Welker was regarded as a fighter, but he was 
very tender and sympathetic. In the home and 
around the fireside you saw the real man. He was a 
diligent student and a tireless pastor. I have heard 
that the late Senator Vance said that Dr. Welker was 
North Carolina's greatest theologian and preacher at 
that time. The time that he served as Stated Clerk 
was about commensurate with his pastorate. He was 
the constant and often the only delegate to Synod and 
General Synod from the Classis of North Carolina. 
In these bodies he took a prominent part and was often 
a champion in debate. In the controversy over the 
Mercersburg Theology he was an original, constant and 
uncompromising opponent and one of the strongest 
champions on his side. But when terms of peace were 
offered he was one of the worthy commission that 



142 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

formulated and piloted the plan that saved the Re- 
formed Church from a complete rupture. When he 
entered the Guilford Charge nearly every farm in its 
bounds had a still-house, and intemperance was mak- 
ing terrible havoc among the members. As soon as 
he deemed himself sufficiently established in the 
affection of his people, he began a warfare on whisky 
that was waged with deadly pertinacity on both sides 
for many years. Many of the wealthier and more 
influential members after withdrawing their subscrip- 
tions and failing to starve out their pastor withdrew 
from the church and formed an organization in another 
denomination. But the whisky power was broken, 
and he lived to see the last still-house abandoned 
among his membership. The most influential of those 
who withdrew, in his extreme old age, sent for Dr. 
Welker to come to see him. Reconciliation was made 
and an engagement that Dr. Welker should preach his 
funeral. In the controversy that brought on the 
Civil War, he was invincible for the Union, and out- 
spoken in his convictions. He was bitterly persecuted. 
His life was threatened, and a mob assembled to inter- 
cept him on his way home from Greensboro one night 
to hang him, but as he always believed a divine hand 
led him to take an unusual road and thus the mob was 
robbed of its victim. His courage and his trust in 
Providence never failed. Neither did the confidence of 
his friends in his integrity and the rectitude of his 
course. Many were the poor, needy and oppressed 
whom he counseled and succored during the terrible 
ordeal. After peace was made his county sent him 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 143 



to the Legislature, to aid in reconstructing the shat- 
tered government. He was the peer of any in that 
body, and had there been a majority like him, the 
mistakes that brought the body into disrepute had 
not been made. During his political career he minis- 
tered regularly to his congregations and maintained 
his standing with his people. 

He contributed many able articles to both secular 
and religious journals. These all bear the unmis- 
takable impress of his vigorous mind, while his best 
thinking was done not at the desk, but on his feet. 
His articles in the appendix to the eighth volume of 
the Colonial Records of North Carolina, on the early 
Germans and Reformed Churches in North Carolina, 
is a model of good writing. So are his written discus- 
sions in the controversy on Mercersburg Theology. 
His reading took a wide range, and while his salary 
was always inadequate, doubtless averaging less than 
four hundred dollars, he annually bought a fine lot of 
books, and accumulated a large and valuable library 
of the choicest literature. Few private libraries in the 
State, if any, are equal to it. 

His relations to his neighboring ministers of sister 
churches were most cordial and fraternal. They fre- 
quently exchanged pulpits. Rev. John A. Gretter, 
Presbyterian pastor at Greensboro, buried and preached 
the funeral of his first wife. His own brethren were too 
far off to reach him in time. 

To attend the meeting of Classis, which he almost 
never failed to do, and of the Board of Trustees of 
Catawba College, and to assist his brethren in their 



144 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

protracted meetings, he often traveled the entire 
length of Classis (130 miles) on horseback or in a 
vehicle. He rivaled Loretz and our pioneer preachers 
in their travels and other hardships and labors. His 
endurance of heat, cold and toil was phenomenal. 
His capacity for mental activity was equally great. 
He was facile princeps of all the pastors in these 
churches up to this date, unless Loretz be excepted. 

After serving the Guilford Charge for fifty-one years 
he resigned his cherished life's work into the hands of 
Rev. J. D. Andrew, reared in his own flock and hard by 
his old home. A complication of ailments had for 
several years greatly impaired his health, and after 
lingering about a year in retirement, his faithful old 
family physician informed him that medicine could 
bring no further relief and that the end was nigh. He 
replied: "I am ready," and on the 9th of July, 1894, 
his great spirit took its flight. His age was 76 years, 
8 months and 6 days. A vast assembly attended his 
funeral. His dust rests in God's Acre at Mt. Hope, 
hard by his home. 

5. St. Mark's Reformed Church, Alamance County. 

St. Mark's Reformed Church is located one and one- 
fourth miles south of Elon College in Alamance County. 
The late Rev. G. W. Welker, D.D., in his notes on the 
origin of this congregation says that it was organized 
at Friedens, about nine miles northwest of the Brick 
Church soon after the Brick Church was organized, 
and probably by the same minister who organized the 
Brick Church. Friedens was a union Reformed and 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 145 

Lutheran Church and was located about two miles 
northwest of Gibsonville. It was also known as 
"Schumaker's Church." The Reformed families in 
this vicinity were the Weitzells, Wyricks, Straders, 
DeWalds and others, who here were wont to worship 
until the congregation by neglect was under the min- 
istry of Rev. Crawford suffered to disintegrate. How- 
ever, on the 13th of January, 1855, under the ministry 
of Rev. G. W. Welker, this congregation was re-organ- 
ized. Gideon DeWald and William Weitzell were 
chosen Elders; John Clapp, Duncan Troxler and 
Joshua Weitzell, Deacons. 

For the convenience of its members in 1857 the Re- 
formed congregation withdrew and held services under 
a brush arbor two miles southeast of Gibsonville near 
Boon's Station on the old stage road leading from 
Salisbury to Hillsboro. In 1862 the present building; 
was erected about one-half mile south of the arbor. 
This is a frame structure about 40 by 60 feet. As will 
be seen from the date it was built in war times. Many 
of the residents in the community can well remember 
when it was built. They say it was enclosed and the 
floor laid and used in this way for a long time before 
it was plastered. Rev. G. W. Welker, D.D.,was pastor 
from the re-organization till 1889. Rev. Jesse Richards 
from 1889 till 1891, and Rev. D. P. Lefever from 1891 
till September 30, 1893. Rev. J. D. Andrew took 
charge of the congregation on November 5, 1893, and 
still remains the pastor. In 1895 the church was 
nicely papered and painted on the inside and in 1897 
it was painted afresh on the outside. 



146 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

The present membership is 89. The officers are as 
follows: R. L. Mebane and Levi Shepherd, Elders, 
and C. V. Boon, W. R. Whitt and W. B. Montgomery, 
Deacons. 

This congregation like many others in the country 
has suffered very much by the removal of its members 
to the neighboring towns. 

6. Burlington Reformed Church. 

During the annual meeting of the Classis of North 
Carolina, held at the Brick Church of the Guilford 
Charge, May 1, 1889, the Alamance Charge was con- 
stituted, consisting of St. Mark's, Stoner's and a pro- 
posed congregation in Burlington. 

This new charge was enrolled by the Board of Home 
Missions with an appropriation of $300.00 per annum 
and Rev. Jesse Richards, of Lakeside, Ohio, was com- 
missioned missionary pastor. He entered upon this 
new pastorate in the spring of 1889, and organized a 
congregation in the home of Mr. Z. M. Foust on Main 
Street in Burlington in 1889, with the following charter 
members: Z. M. Foust and Jacob J. May, Elders; 
James P. May and Wm. N. Mebane, Deacons; Wm. 
M. Mebane, Mrs. Rachel May, Mrs. Z. M. Foust, Miss 
Lula Foust, Mrs. J. P. May and Mrs. Wm. M. Mebane. 

Rev. Richards remained pastor here from May, 1889, 
to September 30, 1891. During this time he preached 
in the "Union Church" and had large congregations. 
At this time there were as yet few houses of worship 
in Burlington. Several of the denominations held 
services alternately in the Union Church. Under the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 147 



pastorate of Rev. Richards the membership grew until 
it numbered about fifty. Many of the older citizens 
here still remember and speak of Rev. Richards and 
his plain earnest Gospel preaching. In the fall of 
1891 Rev. Richards was succeeded as pastor by Rev. 
Daniel P. Lefever, who remained here until September 
30, 1893. Mrs. Lefever organized and maintained a 
good Sunday School at the Fair grounds in East Bur- 
lington. But for some cause or other Rev. Lefever 
did not succeed in building up or even holding to- 
gether the congregation in Burlington. The Board of 
Missions dropped Burlington from the roll on October 
1, 1893. 

Almost nothing was done in Burlington from 1893 
to 1898. Rev. J. D. Andrew, pastor of the Guilford 
Charge, made occasional visits to Burlington, looking 
after the scattered members and preaching for them 
as best he could. On October 20, 1895, Rev. Andrew 
effected a re-organization of the congregation which 
had now dwindled down to a mere handful. A few 
new Reformed families had moved to Burlington. In 
all 23 names were secured for the new organization. 
On the 23d of October, 1895, Z. M. Foust and W. R. 
Garrett were installed as Elders, and J. P. May and 
A. M. Shepard as Deacons. 

Rev. Andrew lived too far away and had his time 
too exclusively occupied in the Guilford Charge to do 
effective work in Burlington. At a meeting of the 
Classis held in Newton September 4, 1897, the Guilford 
Charge was again divided. Burlington, St. Mark's 
and Fairview were constituted a charge under the 
name of the " Burlington Charge." 



148 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

At a quarterly meeting of the Bi-Synodic Board of 
Home Missions, held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 
January, 1898, Burlington was again placed on the 
roll of missions with an appropriation of $350.00. 
Rev. J. D. Andrew was commissioned pastor to begin 
work April 1, 1898. He began work in the new charge 
September, 1898, after spending July and August in 
the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. 

On his arrival in the charge he found 19 members 
in Burlington. With these he began work. They 
were much discouraged. The services were held in the 
old " Union Church." There was no regular organist 
and oftentimes Rev. Andrew had to lead the singing 
and do the preaching. The children of the Reformed 
families in town were in Sunday Schools of other de- 
nominations and it was seen at once that they did not 
want to withdraw till after Christmas. So no effort 
was made to organize until April 23, 1899. At this 
date an organization was effected with 19 scholars. 
Mr. A. M. Shepard was elected Superintendent, Mr. 
Z. M. Foust, assistant Superintendent, and Mr. W. R. 
Garrett, Secretary and Treasurer. These brethren 
have served acceptably in these offices to the present 
time. 

On February 13, 1900, a lot at the corner of Front 
and Anderson Streets, in West Burlington, was bought 
from Mr. B. R. Sellars at a cost of $265.00. It was 
decided to build a brick church to be covered with 
slate, the auditorium to be 34 by 50 feet with a class 
room 10 by 20 feet on either side. The first brick was 
laid July 10, 1900. By Christmas of this year the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 149 



building was enclosed. The first service was held 
January 6, 1901, when a large congregation was pres- 
ent; the Lord's Supper was administered and three 
members were received. The church was plastered 
during December, 1901, and January, 1902. 

During May and June of 1903 the church was beau- 
tifully papered and painted on the interior and wire 
screens were put on the windows outside. The whole 
cost to date is $3,275.00. Of this amount the North 
Carolina Classis gave $400.00 and the Board of Missions 
loaned $500.00. The pastor served as building com- 
mittee, soliciting agent and treasurer of the build- 
ing fund. His cash book shows 1,260 entries. 

The church membership at this writing is 138. The 
Sunday School enrolls 250 in the regular department, 
75 in the Home Department and 42 in the Cradle Roll. 
The Ladies' Aid and Missionary Society numbers 28 
active and 3 honorary members. 

The present officers of the congregation are as fol- 
lows: Elders, Z. M. Foust, W. R. Garrett and J. C. 
Shepard; Deacons, A. M. Shepard, W. H. Fogleman, 
C. H. Heritage and S. D. Thompson. 

7. Fairview Reformed Church, Whitsett. 

Whitsett Institute is located three miles south of 
Gibsonville, in Guilford County, North Carolina. This 
school was founded in 1884 under the name of Fair- 
view. In the year 1888 Prof. W. T. Whitsett, Ph.D., 
began teaching here. From the beginning of Dr. 
Whitsett *s work the school was a success. It was the 
custom with Dr. Whitsett to invite ministers of every 



150 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



denomination to preach to the school and community 
oftentimes during the school year. Early in the pas- 
torate of Rev. J. D. Andrew in the Guilford Charge 
in 1893, Dr. Whitsett invited him to preach at Fair- 
view. This invitation was accepted. At frequent 
intervals during 1894 and 1895 these invitations were 
repeated and accepted. In the latter part of the sum- 
mer of 1895 it occurred to Rev. Andrew that it would 
be a good idea to have a Reformed Church at Fairview. 
So after preaching in the school chapel on the 8th of 
September of that year, Dr. Whitsett and Rev. An- 
drew were talking together when the latter remarked, 
"How would you like to have a Reformed Church at 
this place?" Dr. Whitsett answered, "I would like it 
very much and I think you are the man to build it." 
With a few more remarks the matter passed. During 
the week following a long letter was received from Dr. 
Whitsett encouraging the project. 

A few of the Reformed families living in the com- 
munity were consulted and so rapidly did the idea 
grow that on the 18th of September, just ten days 
after the first conversation about the matter, Dr. 
Whitsett donated a lot with a frontage of 100 feet in 
the northwest corner of his tract of land around the 
school building. The lot is on the avenue leading to 
Gibson ville. On the next day, September 19th, Rev. 
Andrew began a canvass of the community for money, 
material and labor for the new church. The church 
was planned to be of wood, 34 by 50 feet with a vesti- 
bule 8 by 28 feet and a steeple 70 feet high. It was 
thought that the church could be ready to use by 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 151 

Christmas of that year. But alas, he who builds 
churches will find many disappointments in his first 
experience. It was March, 1896, before the framing 
timbers were placed on the grounds and then the 
friends advised to postpone until July. Accordingly 
the work was postponed until July 6th, when the 
framing was begun. The work was pushed as rapidly 
as the meagre subscriptions would permit. By 
October the house was raised and covered. On the 
7th of October the corner-stone was laid with due cere- 
monies. Rev. J. C. Leonard delivered the address. 
Soon after the laying of the corner-stone the name of 
the school was changed to Whitsett Institute. The 
first service was held in the new church at three p. m. 
May 2, 1897. Immediately after the service the con- 
gregation was organized under the name of Fairview 
Reformed Church, which had been decided upon 
before the name of the school was changed. D. Ed- 
ward Clapp was elected Elder and C. C. Barnhart, 
Deacon. The membership of this congregation is 
only thirty, but the attendance is always large, the 
school and the community furnishing the hearers. 

8. First Reformed Church, High Point. 

High Point was enrolled by the Board of Missions 
in July, 1900, and Rev. J. C. Leonard was commis- 
sioned to begin work October 1st. The first several 
months Mr. Leonard confined his labors primarily to 
Lexington, but in the meantime he negotiated the 
purchase of a lot in High Point, at the corner of Main 
and Russel Streets. The price paid was $425.00. The 



152 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



deed was made November 16, 1900. The first service 
for the mission was held in the residence of Mr. Walter 
E. Conrad, on East Green Street, March 3, 1901. 
Three weeks later, March 24th, in the same house, a 
congregation was organized under the name of the 
First Reformed Church of High Point. The following 
were enrolled as charter members: E. T. Hedrick, Mrs. 
Mittie L. Hedrick, H. H. Hedrick, Mrs. Ada M. Hed- 
rick, Ivey T. Hedrick, Mrs. Cora Hedrick, Mrs. Daisy 
Millington, Walter E. Conrad, J. B. Wagner, S. R. 
Wagner, J. F. Bowers, James Sanes, Mrs. Minnie Sanes, 
Mrs. Elizabeth Clark, Mrs. Minnie Beck, Lewis Liven- 
good, Jacob Livengood, Mrs. Mary E. Livingood, Miss 
Augusta R. Livengood. E. T. Hedrick, L. S. Liven- 
good and J. F. Bowers were elected Elders, and Jacob 
Livengood, J. B. Wagner and Ivey T. Hedrick, Deacons. 

Work was commenced on the church May 31, 1901. 
Mr. E. T. Hedrick, an Elder of the congregation, was 
the contractor. The church, though not yet finished, 
was opened for service August 18, 1901, Rev. J. C. 
Leonard preaching morning and evening. The new 
house of worship was solemnly dedicated to God's 
service October 20, 1901. The sermon was preached 
by Rev. J. M. L. Lyerly, of Crescent, a college class- 
mate of the pastor. 

During the months of June, July and August, 1901, 
Mr. Wm. H. Causey, a student in the Theological Sem- 
inary at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, worked in the 
Sunday School under a commission from the Sunday 
School Board of the Reformed Church. Mr. Causey's 
labors were most efficient and successful. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 153 

Rev. J. C. Leonard continued to serve the churches 
in High Point and Lexington alone until May 1, 1902, 
when, with the approval of the Board of Missions, he 
associated with himself in the pastorate Rev. D. E. 
Bowers. Mr. Bowers gave his entire time to the work in 
High Point. The work progressed well in both towns, 
and in January, 1903, the Board of Missions consti- 
tuted the churches in Lexington and High Point sepa- 
rate missions; Rev. D. E. Bowers was commissioned 
for High Point and he has continued in the mission to 
the present time. 

9. Bethel Reformed Church, High Point. 

A corner lot 50 by 150 feet on Front and Second 
Streets was purchased from Mr. A. A. Barker in the 
fall of 1903, at a cost of $100.00, the money being pro- 
vided by the Sunday School Board of the Reformed 
Church in the United States. During the fall of the 
same year a chapel was erected and furnished at a 
cost of $500.00. 

December 13, 1903, at 2:30 p. m. the chapel was 
opened for divine services. A Sunday School was 
organized, fifty scholars being present, and the Rev. 
D. E. Bowers, pastor of the First Reformed Church, 
preached. He served the Sunday School as Superin- 
tendent until January 1, 1904, when Mr. J. H. Ever- 
hart was elected Superintendent. 

On Sunday, September 25, 1904, the chapel was 
dedicated to the service of the Triune God. Rev. J. C. 
Leonard, of Lexington, preached the dedicatory ser- 
mon, and the service of dedication was conducted by 



154 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



Rev. D. E. Bowers under whose care the work had 
been placed by the Classis of North Carolina May, 1904. 

Rev. D. E. Bowers provided the mission with such 
services as the time he could spare from the First 
Reformed Church would admit. The work progressed 
rapidly, and on October 24, 1905, Mr. Bowers organ- 
ized a congregation with 28 members. Messrs. J. H. 
Everhart, G. Y. Stone and Lewis Livengood were 
elected Elders, and Messrs. Percy 0. Wall, Madison M. 
Martin and Jesse L. Barger were elected Deacons to 
serve for one year. 

The following are the persons who entered the or- 
ganization as charter members: John H. Everhart, 
Mrs. Nannie L. Curtis, Mrs. Rosa Paul, Mrs. Annie Fer- 
gurson, Wilson Ensley, Madison Martin, Miss Grace 
Curtis, Jesse L. Barger, Samuel F. Wall, Mrs. Bettie 
Jackson, James P. Curtis, Gideon Y. Stone, Mrs. Mamie 
Stone, Roy Vaughn Curtis, John Upton, Miss Myra 
Potts, John Martin, Miss Mattie Martin, Miss Carrie 
Moore, Lewis Livengood, Mrs. Mary Alice Livengood, 
Miss Sallie Potts, Percy A. Wall and Mrs. Emma Wall. 

10. First Reformed Church, Greensboro. 

Greensboro is the county seat of Guilford County. 
It is a growing city. There have been Reformed 
people in Guilford from the time of the coming of the 
first German settlers. From time to time some of 
our members located in Greensboro, and many of them 
have been lost to our Church. Definite steps looking 
to the organization of a church were taken by the 
Classis of North Carolina at its annual meeting in May, 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 155 

1902, at Daniel's Church, when Revs. J. C. Leonard 
and J. D. Andrew were appointed with instructions to 
minister to the people and to canvass the whole 
matter with a view of organizing a congregation. 
These brethren preached occasionally in Greensboro. 
March 1, 1903, they organized the First Reformed 
Church with 19 members. J. H. Low and D. E. 
Clapp were elected Elders, and J. F. Troxler and J. T. 
Plott, Deacons. The Board of Missions enrolled the 
new interest in April and commissioned Rev. Shuford 
Peeler as missionary, to begin work July 1st. Services 
were held in the Christian Church three months. A 
lot was purchased at the corner of West Lee and 
Spring Streets at a cost of $1,500.00. A brick dwell- 
ing house on the lot was converted into a neat chapel, 
and the first service was held there the first Sunday 
in October, 1903. On the same day a Sunday School 
was organized with 30 scholars. 

The little brick chapel served a good purpose, but 
better accommodations were needed. Definite steps 
looking to a new church were accordingly taken in 
June, 1904, and in September of the same year the 
foundation of the new chapel was laid. By the plans 
adopted this chapel was to be the Sunday School room 
of the completed church. The first service was held 
in this new chapel in April, 1905. It was built at a 
cost of $2,800.00. 

But the congregation pushed valiantly forward to 
build the auditorium of the church. Their labors 
were crowned with success, for before the end of the 
year 1906 they were occupying the handsome new 



156 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

church. The cost of the entire property was a little 
over $11,000. The church is modern is every par- 
ticular and will meet the needs of the coDgregation for 
years to come. The auditorium seats 400 and the 
chapel 200. The two are connected by rolling par- 
titions, giving a seating capacity of 600. One of the 
handsome windows is a memorial to the late Rev. Dr. 
Geo. W. Welker; it is the gift of members of his 
family. This church was dedicated to the service of 
the Triune God November 18, 1906. The services 
of the day were in charge of the pastor, Rev. Shuford 
Peeler. Rev. J. C. Leonard, D.D., preached the ser- 
mon at 11 o'clock a. m. The Holy Communion was 
then celebrated. In the afternoon at 3 o'clock the 
dedication sermon was preached by Rev. J. C. Clapp, 
D.D. At night Rev. Geo. A. Snyder, D.D., preached the 
sermon and Rev. J. D. Andrew delivered an address. 

11. Pilgrim Reformed Church (Leonard's), Davidson 
County. 

The German immigration into this section of North 
Carolina was at high tide from 1745 to 1755. These 
people came to North Carolina and took up great 
tracts of land in the most desirable sections of the 
State. The Germans were members either of the 
Reformed or Lutheran or Moravian Church. Being 
accustomed to regular services at home, they naturally 
were zealous to enjoy the same privileges in this coun- 
try. But there was one great difficulty in the way of 
this, viz., the lack of ministers. The best that could 
be done was to appoint the older men and otheis of 



\ 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 157 

marked piety to conduct services of prayer and read 
printed sermons. Sometimes the school masters were 
appointed to conduct the meetings; but school teach- 
ers were almost as scarce as ministers. The Abbott's 
Creek section attracted quite a number of settlers 
within the period above designated. Among these 
were Jacob Hege and his sons George and Henry; 
Peter Spengler, Valentine Leonard and his brother 
Peter; Henry Shoaf, Jacob Berrier, Philip Sauer 
(Sowers), Christopher and George Sprecher, Adam 
Hedrick, Peter Meyer (Meyers), Adam Conrad, Jacob 
Byerly and George Clodfelter. Most of these men were 
from the Palatinate in Germany and were members of 
the Reformed Church, as were their children after them. 

In the year 1753 or 1754 Jacob Berrier and two or 
three companions were one day riding through the 
country between the Yadkin River and Abbott's Creek. 
There were then Indians in this section of North Caro- 
lina. Mr. Berrier and his companions had visited 
several settlers on the lands between and on the waters 
of these two streams. These people were neighbors, 
though they lived in some cases many miles apart. 
About three-quarters of a mile west of Abbott's Creek 
these gentlemen came to a beautiful spot in a grove of 
oak, hickory and sugar-maple trees, where was also a 
spring of sparkling water bubbling up. Here they 
paused and Jacob Berrier said to his companions: 
"Gott hat diese Stelle zur verehrung sines Namens 
geschaffen; hier mussen wir ein Versammlungshaus 
haben." (God fashioned this place for a house of 
worship; here we must have a meeting-house.) This 



158 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

spot was near the home of Valentine Leonard, who 
came to North Carolina from Germany in 1746 and 
took up several tracts of the Lord Granville and Henry 
McCulloh lands on both sides of what was then called 
"Mill Creek/' but afterwards and to this day called 
"Leonard's Creek" after his name. Valentine Leon- 
ard was born at Katzenbach in the Palatinate, Ger- 
many, October 13, 1718. His parents were Martin and 
Anna Barbara Leonard, who were married November 
11, 1704, by Rev. Carl Gervinus, pastor of the Reformed 
Church at Katzenbach from 1691 to 1710. Valentine 
Leonard was baptized October 23, 1718, in the Re- 
formed Church at Katzenbach by the Rev. Gotthard 
Steitz, the pastor. He was confirmed a full member 
of the same church at Easter, 1733, by Rev. Henry 
Julius Wagner, pastor of the Katzenbach Reformed 
Church from 1719 to 1763. To Valentine Leonard and 
his wife Elizabeth were born eight children: Barbara, 
Valentine, Michael, Peter, Catharine, Elizabeth, Philip 
and Jacob. Barbara married Henry Hege, a son of 
Jacob Hege (both named above), and a brother of 
George Hege. Elizabeth married George Clodfelter. 
Valentine Leonard and his wife Elizabeth, his five sons 
and their wives, and his three daughters and sons-in- 
law were all members of the Reformed Churcti near 
his home, the church built on the spot pointed out by 
Jacob Berrier and afterwards known for many years 
as "Leonard's Church," from the fact that the church 
was near Valentine Leonard's house and also from the 
fact that he and his family constituted a large part 
of the membership in the early days of its history. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 159 

Valentine Leonard, the pioneer, was a patriot in 
those stirring times preceding and during the American 
Revolution, as were also many of his neighbors. The 
pastor of the Reformed congregation at Pilgrim Church 
during these years was Rev. Samuel Suther, who 
served from 1768 to 1786. His pastorate covered the 
years of that stormy period, and being himself an 
intense patriot he naturally influenced his parishioners 
in that direction. Valentine Leonard and his sons 
fought through that struggle; the last battle in which 
they fought was that of Guilford Court House, March 
15, 1781, after which they returned home. Near the 
close of the war, on the second day of November, 1781, 
a band of Tories came to Valentine Leonard's house 
and attempted to murder him, and in fact left him for 
dead. He died from his wounds November 13th, a 
martyr to his country. He was buried in the grave- 
yard close by the church of which he was a faithful 
member and which before and since bore his name. 

FACSIMILE OP VALENTINE LEONARD'S SIGNATURE IN GERMAN SCRIPT. 

The site of the church was selected in that interest- 
ing way by Jacob Berrier at that early date. Jacob 
Berrier was the father of John Martin and David Ber- 
rier, some of whose descendants are still citizens of 
the same community. There was no house of worship 
built until several years later. A brush arbor was put 
up on the spot, under which services were conducted 
occasionally by some of the older men. In these meet- 



160 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

ings many prayers were made to God earnestly asking 
for a minister. The spot selected was on an unoccu- 
pied tract of land lying between the lands of Philip 
Sauer (Sowers) on the north and Valentine Leonard on 
the south. Philip Sauer came to North Carolina in 
1753 and took up a tract of land north of the present 
location of the church. Soon afterwards he married. 
The first baptismal entry in the record of the Reformed 
congregation at this place is that of his first-born 
child, Anna Catharine Sauer, the date of whose birth 
was April 27, 1757, and whose baptism was evidently 
not long afterwards. This child was the daughter of 
Philip Sauer and wife. The name of the officiating 
clergyman is not given. It is probable that Rev. 
Christian Theus, who lived in the forks of the Broad 
and Saluda Rivers in South Carolina, baptized this 
child. He preached regularly in the upper part of 
South Carolina from 1739 to 1775 and also visited the 
German settlements in North Carolina and held ser- 
vices for the scattered Reformed people. He was the 
first Reformed preacher in this section of the country. 
Or it may be that the child was not baptized until 
1759, when the Rev. Mr. Martin, a Swiss Reformed 
minister, preached regularly to the Reformed people 
on the waters of Abbott's Creek and the Yadkin River, 
as well as elsewhere in this section of the State. This 
baptismal record is an interesting book. There are 
thirty-six names of heads of families in the early rec- 
ords, though some of them had no children. The 
writing is in German and shows different hands. There 
are 179 baptisms from 1757 to 1798. Of these 179 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 161 



baptisms, 145 are recorded prior to the year 1787, 
and 33 are recorded prior to 1772. The names of the 
god-parents (Taufzeugen in German), the persons who 
presented themselves with the parents at the altar in 
the baptism at the request of the parents, are given 
in nearly all the records. 

The first records of Pilgrim Reformed Church are 
incomplete. The oldest book in the possession of 
the congregation is this record of infant baptisms 
dating from 1757. The names of the paternal heads 
of families as given in the list are as follows: Adam 
Hedrick, William Younts (Janss), Henry Happes, 
George Hege (Heeke), Jacob Leonard, Philip Leonard, 
Valentine Leonard, John Henry Darr, Michael Zink, 
Philip Sowers (Sauer), John Zink, Philip Zink, Michael 
Dag (Day), John Peter Spengler, Jacob Crotts (Kratz), 
Michael Leonard, John George Berrier, Peter Kiehn, 
Jr., Henry Hege, John Jacob Wagner, John George 
Clodfelter, Peter Meyer (Myers), Adam Conrad, John 
Henry Shoaf (Schaff), Henry Shoaf, Sr., Ludolph 
Younts, John Martin Berrier, David Berrier, Michael 
Myers, David Myers, Peter Myers, George Sprecher, 
Peter Everhart, Henry Conrad, Christian Grimes 
(Kreim), Peter Lopp (Lapp). 

The first church, which was built within the period 
1757-1764, was a substantial log structure. It was 
built after a common pattern of that day with a gallery 
at each end and on one side. The tall wine-glass pulpit 
occupied the other side. The logs of which it was 
constructed were very large. The church stood on an 
elevated spot at the northeast corner of the grave- 



162 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

yard. The trustees of the congregation still have in 
custody the peculiar S-shaped key to the inner boL 
of that venerable structure, and also one of the staples 
that held the bolt in place. They also have one of the 
quaint collection devices, a ring made of wrought iron 
with an arrangement on one side for an inserted 
handle ; to the ring was sewed a bag, and at the bottom 
of the bag was a small bell, presumably to attract the 
attention of the contributors. They also have the 
pewter baptismal bowl; its companions, a pitcher and 
goblet, were stolen some years ago. 

This first house of worship was built on land claimed 
by McCulloh, though a tract of fifty acres lying between 
the lands of Philip Sauer and Valentine Leonard was 
laid off as church property. After North Carolina 
was properly organized as a State and had confiscated 
the McCulloh lands, three Elders of the congregation, 
Philip Sowers (Sauer), Peter Karn (Kiehn) and Martin 
Shiddles, legally entered the lands in the name of the 
congregation. The official grant was made October 
8, 1783, to the above-named persons, " Elders in trust 
for the Dutch Congregation. " The first recorded 
name of the church is the " Dutch Congregation" as 
given in this official paper ; but the real name seems to 
have been " Pilgrim Church," or "The Church of the 
Pilgrims." It was called in the official records the 
"Dutch Congregation" because it was the church 
located in the community known as the "Dutch settle- 
ment on Abbott's Creek." It was the only church, 
when it was organized, in that part of Rowan County 
east of the Yadkin River. There was another Re- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 163 

formed Church across the Yadkin River four miles 
from the present site of Mocksville, on " Dutchman 
Creek;" the name was " Heidelberg Reformed Church/' 
but it was popularly called the " Dutch Meeting- 
house/' and the site is so called to this day. Beck's 
Church was organized in 1787 as a union church. 
The Rev. Mr. Schneider was then the pastor at Pilgrim, 
the " Dutch Congregation." The Reformed and 
Lutheran people could neither write nor speak Eng- 
lish, but all county and State papers had to be made 
in English, and hence were made by men who knew 
nothing of the Reformed and Lutheran names. As a 
consequence peculiar titles were sometimes given. 
The deed at Beck's Church, dated November 5, 1787, 
calls the Lutherans "The Profession of the Church of 
England" because the Lutherans had a liturgical form 
of worship somewhat like that of the Church of Eng- 
land. In that same deed the Reformed congregation 
is called "The Profession of the Church of the Dutch 
Settlement on Abbott's Creek" because the people of 
the Beck's Reformed congregation were members of 
the same denomination that had already been called 
in the records of 1783 "The Dutch Congregation." 
Everybody understood that the Lutheran and Re- 
formed Churches were meant and it is so understood 
to this day. 

December 17, 1792, a wedge-shaped piece of land 
containing eighty-six acres, covered neither by the 
Sowers, the Leonard nor the church tracts, was entered 
for the church. The grant was made to George Clod- 
felter, John Lopp, George Hege and Valentine Day, 



164 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

" Trustees for the Dutch Congregation." The congre- 
gation then held 136 acres of land. In the year 1787 
the Lutherans came in as co-tenants, and from that 
time on had the use of the church and the lands. 
There is no record as to the terms on which they were 
admitted. For thirty-four years the two denomina- 
tions worshiped in the same church. In 1821 the 
Lutherans split, and the two congregations of that 
denomination were allowed by the Reformed to use 
the property along with themselves until the spring 
of the year 1903, when the Reformed congregation, 
to gain absolute title to the entire property, paid to 
the two parties of Lutherans the handsome sum of 
$3,100.00 and received from them a quit-claim. 

The pastorate of the Rev. Mr. Martin covered the 
years from 1759 to 1764. He was a faithful minister 
and rode many miles on horseback in order to meet 
his appointments and visit his people. It is possible 
that the log church was built during his pastorate, 
though it may have been built between 1757 and 1759. 
The earliest marked grave is in 1761, though the present 
topography of the grave-yard indicates that there were 
graves still earlier. It is altogether probable that 
persons were buried here even before the first church 
was built. 

In 1764 the Rev. Mr. Dupert succeeded the Rev. Mr. 
Martin, and his pastorate continued until 1768. Mr. 
Dupert was said to be a most earnest, hard-working 
man. His visits to the Dutch Congregation were 
made regularly four times a year unless hindered by 
sickness or high waters. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 165 

The next minister after Mr. Dupert was Rev. Samuel 
Suther. He is the "Dutch Minister " whom Governor 
Try on says in his diary he heard preach. He began 
to preach for the " Dutch Congregation on Abbott's 
Creek" in 1768 7 and his pastorate continued until 1786. 
Most of the baptisms recorded in the Pilgrim Reformed 
Church register were administered by him. In fact 
but few baptisms in the original thirty-six families 
are recorded after 1786, the year that marks the close 
of his pastorate. From that time forward for several 
years the baptismal records are only fragmentary. 
Five years after the beginning of his pastorate, in the 
year 1773, the first Lutheran minister came to North 
Carolina in the person of the Rev. Adolph Nussman, 
who became pastor of churches in Cabarrus and Rowan 
Counties west of the Yadkin River. In 1787 Rev. C. E. 
Bernhardt, another Lutheran minister, came to North 
Carolina and labored. Dr. G. D. Bernheim says, 
"doubtless in that part of Rowan County east of the 
Yadkin River." He was the first Lutheran pastor 
east of the Yadkin River. 

In 1786 the Rev. Mr. Suther went to South Carolina 
and took charge of the congregations in the "Forks," 
formerly served by the Rev. Mr. Theus. The Rev. 
Mr. Schneider was the next pastor at Pilgrim, and he 
served from 1787 to 1792. He was a very energetic 
man. He organized the congregations at Beck's, 
Fredericktown (Bethany) and Sowers (Arnold). Rev. 
Samuel Weyburg was pastor from 1793 to 1798. He 
succeeded the Rev. Jacob Christman, who served until 
1803. In the latter year the Rev. Mr. Christman went 



166 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

to Ohio, and the congregation was then served until 
1812 by Rev. Andrew Loretz and Rev. George Boger 
jointly. After the death of Rev. Andrew Loretz in 
1812, Rev. George Boger continued to preach occa- 
sionally for the congregation at seasons of the year 
when the ministers sent down by the Synod could not 
hold the services. This arrangement was kept up 
through the long period of fifteen years. Had it not 
been for the faithful missionary pastors sent out an- 
nually by Synod the congregation would have suffered 
much more than it did. Within these fifteen years 
the congregation had the services of such consecrated 
men as Revs. James R. Reify, William Weinel, Henry 
Dieffenbach, Jacob Scholl, John S. Ebaugh, George 
Leidy, John Rudy and others. In 1828 Rev. William 
Hauck became the regular pastor of the church at 
Pilgrim and the other Reformed Churches in Davidson 
Count y. He remained until 1832. 

The following is a list of the ministers who have 
served the congregation: 

Rev. Christian Theus — occasional visits before 1759. 



Rev. Mr. Martin 1759-1764. 

Rev. Mr. Dupert 1764-1768. 

Rev. Samuel Suther 1768-1786. 

Rev. Mr. Schneider 1787-1792. 

Rev. Samuel Weyburg 1793-1798. 

Rev. Jacob Christman 1798-1803. 

Revs. G. Boger and A. Loretz .1803-1812. 

Revs. G. Boger, J. R. Reily, Wm. Wei- 
nel, H. Dieffenbach, J. Scholl, J. S. 
Ebaugh, G. Leidy and J. Rudy 1812-1827. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 167 



Rev. Wm. Hauck 1828-1832. 

Rev. W. C. Bennet 1832-1838. 

Rev. David Crooks 1838-1846. 

Rev. F. Plassman 1846-1848. 

Rev. T. Butler 1848-1851. 

Rev. Wm. Sorber 1853-1856. 

Rev. T. Butler 1856-1857. 

Rev. P. A. Long 1858-1862. 

Rev. Thomas Long 1862-1887. 

Rev. G. D. Gurley (assistant) 1885-1886. 

Rev. J. H. Shuford 1887-1888. 

Rev. J. C. Leonard 1889-1897. 

Rev. H. A. M. Holshouser 1897-1903. 

Rev. W. H. Causey 1903-1907. 



In 1807 the Reformed and Lutheran congregations, 
having used the same house of worship jointly for 
twenty years, felt themselves able to build a larger 
and handsomer church. The old log church had been 
in use first by the Reformed alone thirty years, and 
then the Reformed and Lutherans jointly twenty 
years, in all fifty years. It had served an excellent 
purpose, but it was now to give place to a more stately 
temple to be erected a few feet away just outside of 
the graveyard enclosure. The logs of the sacred old 
edifice which had stood so long were sold to a gentle- 
man who converted them into a residence. The second 
church, like the first, but a frame building, was two 
stories high with a gallery at each end and the south 
side; the pulpit was at the north side. In the north- 
west corner was a platform with banisters, where the 
Elders and sometimes the Deacons sat. This house of 



168 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

worship was occupied jointly by the Reformed and 
Lutherans until 1821, when there was an ugly split in 
the Lutheran congregation. One party of the Luth- 
erans adhered to the North Carolina Synod ; the other 
party organized themselves into a new congregation 
and connected themselves with the Tennessee Synod. 
Each party of the Lutherans claimed to be the true 
Lutheran congregation, co-tenant with the Reformed. 
Much bitterness of words and feelings characterized 
their conduct in those stormy days. The new congre- 
gation was contemptuously called by the other 
"Henkelites," followers of the Rev. Mr. Henkel. 
First one Lutheran congregation then the other 
locked the doors against the other party. Certainly 
but one party could with any show of fairness claim 
any interest in the property. But the Reformed con- 
gregation allowed both parties to occupy the property 
with themselves. This arrangement was continued 
as already stated until the year 1903. In 1882, 61 
years after the Lutheran split, the erection of a still 
larger and more handsome church was undertaken. 
This new church, the third one on the grounds, was 
finished and ready for occupancy in the winter of 1882. 
The material for its construction was taken almost 
entirely from the church lands. This church was 
built by the Reformed and the two parties of Luther- 
ans and was used by the three congregations until 
1903. 

This third and last church built on these grounds is 
now the sole property of the Reformed congregation, 
which has a history at this place of one hundred and 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 169 



fifty years. Pilgrim is one of the oldest Reformed 
Churches in North Carolina, and it has all along been 
active and influential. Its Elders during this long 
period have been men of recognized standing in the 
community. Its present membership is 172, with a 
Sunday School of 176. This congregation has given to 
the Reformed Church four ministers, viz.: Revs. H. F. 
Long, D.D., W. A. Long, Ph.D., J. C. Leonard, D.D., 
and J. L. Bowers. 

The family names now appearing on the roll are as 
follows: Byerly, Bowers, Conrad, Clodfelter, Cross, 
Everhart, Essex, Fritts, Pounds, Green, Helmstetler, 
Hedrick, Hepler, Leonard, Long, Yokely, Wagner, 
Mayab, Medlin, Nickelson, Sink, Smith, Miller, Sowers, 
Craver Tesh, Sanes, Causey, Clinard, Tysinger, Grimes. 

12. Beck's Reformed Church, Davidson County. 

Beck's is one of the old Reformed Churches in North 
Carolina. It has had a long and honorable history. 
Its first members were German settlers from the Palati- 
nate and other sections of Europe. They brought with 
them their German Bibles, hymn-books and catechisms, 
some of which are still preserved as precious heir- 
looms in the homes of their descendants. 

The name arose from the family of Becks (Pecks) in 
the community. This is still a common name in the 
membership of this historical congregation. The 
meagre records do not show that the church ever had 
any other name, though it is presumed that it had, 
just as the mother church of that section, Leonard's 
Church, was organized under the name of Pilgrim. 



170 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

But if there was such a name it has long since been 
lost sight of, and the church continues to be called 
" Beck's Church." 

The deed of the Beck's Church land bears the date 
of November 5, 1787, and conveys fifty-three acres 
from Dr. John Billings, L. Smith and others to Martin 
Frank and Frederick Billings of the " Profession of the 
Church of England," and David Smith and Henry 
Lookinbee of the " Profession of the Church of the 
Dutch Settlement on Abbott's Creek." Martin Frank 
and Frederick Billings were the Trustees of the Luth- 
eran Church, called in this deed "The Profession of the 
Church of England." David Smith and Henry Look- 
inbee were the Trustees of the Reformed Church, 
called in the deed "The Profession of the Church of the 
Dutch Settlement on Abbott's Creek." These pecu- 
liar titles arose from the fact that the members of the 
Reformed and Lutheran Churches could not speak 
English. The officials gathered from their broken 
explanations that the first-named Trustees represented 
a denomination somewhat like the Church of England, 
and wrote the deed accordingly. The officials also 
understood that the latter Trustees represented a 
denomination identical with the "Dutch Congregation 
on Abbott's Creek," already mentioned in the official 
records of 1783, and so wrote the title. 

The pastor of the Reformed Congregation at Beck's 
Church in 1787 was the Rev. Mr. Schneider. It is 
thought that he organized the congregation, though 
already when he came a log church had been built 
under the leadership of Rev. Mr. Suther. The citizens 




beck's CHUECH, DAVIDSON CO., N. c. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 171 

of the community suffered greatly during the Revolu- 
tionary War. The Reformed people, as at Leonard's 
Church, followingthe example of their pastor, Samuel 
Suther, were intense patriots. A notable example 
was Peter Hedrick, the great-grandfather of Rev. M. 
L. Hedrick. He was born December 17, 1733. Later 
in life he came to America and settled in North Carolina 
on the Four-mile Branch near Beck's Church. The 
site of his home is well known. When the war broke 
out he enlisted in the American army. This excited 
the intense hatred of the Tories. In his absence one 
day a band of Tories came to his house and holding a 
pistol in the face of his wife cursed her, and told her 
to give up all she had or die. She answered that she 
was helpless and begged them to spare her and her 
children and her property. They only abused her for 
her pitiful entreaties. They took all the provisions 
except a little salt, drove off the choice horses and cattle 
and shot the others, and then burned all the buildings. 
When Peter Hedrick returned a few weeks later and 
found his desolated home, he took his wife and children 
to Virginia until after the war, when he returned. 
He died January 24, 1789, and lies buried in the Beck's 
Church graveyard. 

The log church was used by the congregation until 
the year 1878, when a large frame church was built 
which is still in use. The pastors have been those who 
served Pilgrim Church until the Lower Davidson 
Charge was formed in 1862, and from that date the 
pastors of that charge. 



172 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



13. Bethany Reformed Church, Davidson County. 

To write the history of Bethany Church is to give 
the history of the German people who settled in that 
community — a people simple in habits of life, indus- 
trious, of upright character, true devotion to the 
church, and strong in the faith of a Saviour's love. 

The deed conveying the property was made August 
I, 1789, and begins as follows: "This indenture made 
the first day of August in the year of our Lord one 
thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine between 
Frederick Miller of Rowan County in the State of North 
Carolina of the first part and the inhabitants of 
Brushy Fork belonging to the Societies of the Church 
and Presbyterian parties as the second part witnesseth, 
that said Frederick Miller for and in consideration of 
the sum of one pound and thirteen shillings current 
money of North Carolina to him in hand paid before 
the ensealing and delivering hereof by the aforesaid 
parties of the second part, the receipt whereof the said 
Frederick Miller doth hereby acknowledge ... to be 
for the use of building a meeting-house and other 
religious purposes." Frederick Miller signed the deed 
by making his mark. 

The first church must have been built about the 
time the deed was made. It was a log structure 
about 30 by 40 feet with galleries on three sides. The 
pulpit was in the usual goblet shape, supported by a 
poplar post, and was large enough for only one person. 
The first name by which the place was called was 
Fredericktown, in honor of Frederick Miller. Later 
on it was called Possumtown. And thereby hangs a 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 173 

tale. It is said that while the good people were at 
church, some one without the spirit of worship in his 
bosom caught several opossums, stuck their tails 
through a stick and left them at Frederick Miller's 
house; and from that time the place was known as 
Possumtown, which clung to it until 1861, when the 
new church was dedicated. No one seemed to know 
what name would be given the church. The dedica- 
tion sermon had been preached, Rev. P. A. Long read 
the service of dedication, and in that dedicated the 
church as Bethany. The name is beautiful, and it 
carries our minds to the place where Jesus so often 
rested just outside Jerusalem. 

This was a union church. "The Church Party" 
named in the deed was the Lutheran Church and the 
"Presbyterian Party" was the Reformed Church, 
names given by the county officials who knew nothing 
of our German people and their churches. It is not 
known when the first services were held, but certainly 
prior to the year 1789 when the site of the church was 
secured. The first church in this section of the State 
was the old Leonard's Church about twelve miles 
further south on Abbott's Creek. The ministers who 
preached there held occasional service in distant 
communities where were found Reformed families. 
Prominent among those ministers who served Leon- 
ard's Church was Rev. Samuel Suther, who preached 
from 1768 to 1786. Following him was the Rev. Mr. 
Schneider. It is known that he organized Beck's 
Church in 1787, and it is likely that he also organized 
Bethany. The next ministers were Revs. Andrew 



174 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Loretz and George Boger. From 1812 for a long 
period Bethany had no regular pastor, and the interest 
went down. 

The fire was smothered; it was not extinguished. 
The harps were hanged upon the willows, but the love 
for Jerusalem still warmed the heart. The story has 
been told, true or not true, that a few remained faith- 
ful and that upon the Lord's Day these with German 
hymn-books and German Bibles in hand gathered and 
held service, singing the songs with the true fervor of 
the Fatherland. This condition of affairs remained 
until 1848, when Rev. Thornton Butier, a young North 
Carolinian who had just finished his education at 
Mercersburg, Pa., took charge of the churches in David- 
son County. His charge consisted of five churches. 

It is said that Mr. Butler held a conference with 
John Long, Samuel Yokeley and Henry Clodfelter as 
to the prospect of re-organizing Possumtown. Butler 
said that the only thing that would revive the church 
at that place was a camp-meeting. These German 
fathers were not given much to camp-meetings and 
were slow to move in that direction. They regarded 
the remedy severe although the case was a desperate 
one. Finally John Long said, " anything to save the 
church." Accordingly arrangements were made and 
a camp-meeting was begun on Friday night before 
the third Sunday in August, 1851, and continued 
until Wednesday of the following week. This meeting 
was held by Reformed preachers, Butler, Welker and 
Ingold. The following year there were two camp- 
meetings: one on the first Sunday in August, held by 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 175 

tne Lutherans, and one on the third Sunday of the 
same month, held by the Reformed. Camp-meetings 
were held each year on the third Sunday in August, 
the Lutheran and Reformed people uniting. The 
Reformed did not hold a meeting, however, after the 
year 1854; the last of the camp-meetings was held by 
the Lutherans in 1858. 

It was during this period that the congregation was 
reorganized. Dr. Welker says that it was resuscitated 
in 1849; again he says in the Colonial Records that 
under the ministry of Rev. Thornton Butler, 1848- , 56, 
it was revived and grew to become a prosperous church. 
But as Rev. Butler resigned in 1851 the resuscitation 
must have taken place prior to that time. In the 
spring of 1853 Rev. William Sorber was installed 
pastor over the Davidson Churches. He was pastor 
at the time of the last camp-meeting held at Possum- 
town. The last meeting was known as the Sorber 
Meeting . 

The pastors succeeding Rev. William Sorber have 
been those mentioned in connection with Pilgrim 
Church, Bethany having formed a part of the original 
Davidson Charge, and later the Upper Davidson 
Charge. Bethany has given to the Church several of 
her sons as ministers: Revs. Philip Allison Long, 
Thomas Long, John Albert Murphy, Joseph L. Murphy 
and William H. Causey. Prominent among the officers 
of the church have been John Long, Samuel Yokeley, 
Israel Long, Lewis Livengood, Henry Clodfelter, Ham- 
ilton Clodfelter and John P. Long. 



176 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

The property was held in common by the Reformed 
and Lutherans until August, 1902, when a division 
was made. Three acres of land were reserved for the 
cemetery to be held in common; and the remaining 
land was divided into two parts, one part containing 
four acres and the other two acres. The Reformed 
received the two acres, and went to work at once to 
build a new church. The corner-stone was laid March 
14 ; 1903. The work of building was steadily pushed 
to completion. November 15th, a beautiful Sunday, 
the new house of worship was dedicated. The sermon 
was preached from Haggai 3 : 9, by Rev. J. L. Murphy, 
D.D., a son of the congregation. Rev. W. H. Causey, 
another son of the congregation, was also present and 
took part in the services. The act of dedication was 
performed by tne pastor, Rev. H. A. M. Holshouser. 

14. Beulah Reformed Church, Davidson County. 

Beulah Reformed Church is situated six miles north- 
west of Lexington. It is more frequently called 
" Sower's Church." This congregation has had a long 
history, but just how long is not known. It was a 
preaching place before the congregation was organized. 
The tract of land on which the church was located was 
donated to the congregation by Elder Philip Sauer 
(Sowers) of the Pilgrim Church. Philip Sauer came 
from Germany to North Carolina in 1753 and took up 
large tracts of land on " Swearing Creek." He was 
the ancestor of all the people in this section of the 
State now called by the name Sowers. He was a 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 177 

member of the Reformed Church and an Elder, and 
his interest in this church was large. It was largely 
through his influence that the first grant was made 
to the " Dutch Congregation on Abbott's Creek," 
Pilgrim Church, of which he was a member. When 
the country became more thickly settled and other 
churches were needed, he cheerfully donated eleven 
acres of ground for Beulah Reformed Church. That 
was about the year 1788. He showed his wisdom, 
too, in giving the land for the exclusive use of the 
"Reformirte Kirche." This was one of the few early 
churches that was never a union church. 

The Rev. Mr. Schneider was the first pastor at 
Beulah. Under his ministry the old log church was 
built in 1788 or 1789 at the northeast corner of the 
present graveyard. This church was used until 1851, 
when a frame structure was built a few yards further 
north. This latter church, after many re-modelings, 
still stands and is in use at the present day. 

Among the family names prominent in the early 
history of this church are the following: Koontz, Ever- 
hart, Sowers, Livengood, Hege, Berrier, Grimes, 
Wehrle (Whirlow), Schaaf (Shoaf). Some of these 
names are still found on the roll of membership. Its 
pastors have been those mentioned elsewhere in con- 
nection with Pilgrim Church and for that reason are 
not repeated here. It was a part of the original 
" Davidson Charge," and has formed a part of the 
Upper Davidson Charge since the division of the David- 
son Charge. Its present membership is about 160. 



178 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



15. Emanuel Reformed Church, Davidson County. 

Emanuel Church is situated three and a half miles 
south of Thomasville, in Davidson County, and is one 
of the old churches in that section. It has always 
been a union church, the Lutherans sharing the prop- 
erty with the Reformed. The site is a fine one and 
easily accessible. The site was a burying ground as 
early as 1808 and likely also a place of worship. Ac- 
cording to the custom of those early days a rude log 
church was first built, which in this instance was also 
used for school purposes. The place was then called 
" Bowers' Meeting House." There is no record of a 
congregation here prior to about 1814. A frame 
church was built to replace the log house which had 
been used for occasional services for several years past. 
Leonard's and Beck's were the two strong churches of 
Rowan County east of the Yadkin River at the time, 
and the Reformed people of the Emanuel community 
held their membership at one or the other of these 
places until a congregation was organized at that 
point. This church was at first connected with the 
Davidson Charge, then with the Lower Davidson 
Charge; it now forms a part of the Thomasville 
Charge. Emanuel Church is situated in a prosperous 
community and has always had a good membership. 
Its early ministers were such men as Schneider, Christ- 
man, Weyberg and the Synodical missionaries. Its 
later pastors have been those of the charges named 
above. 

The house of worship erected in 1814 was used until 
December 12, 1901, when it was destroyed by fire. A 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 179 

large modern frame building was erected the following 
year and is the pride of the present congregation. 

Absolam Grimes, David Myers and Lewis Liven- 
good were the first Elders named in the records. Its 
principal families were the Grimes (Grimms), Myers, 
Imlers, Shulers, Lohrs, Livengoods, Veitches, etc. 

16. Hebron Reformed Church, Davidson County. 

Hebron Reformed Church (formerly Pleasant Re- 
treat) is located in Davidson County about seven 
miles south of Winston, North Carolina. Previous to 
the establishment of this church this community had 
no convenient place of worship. But there were 
godly people living in the community who felt the 
need of a church within easy reach. Among these 
were Joseph Miller, a local Methodist minister, and 
Thomas Long, a member of the Reformed Church and 
a man of ability to lead. These two men met together 
and said: " There ought to be a church here," and 
took steps towards its establishment. Selection of a 
location for a church became necessary. There were 
two inviting spots: one on the land of Michael Miller 
and the other on the land of Thomas Long. To vote 
in the civil election at that, time it was necessary for 
a man to own fifty acres of land. Mr. Miller owned 
just fifty acres and to give a lot for the church would 
have disfranchised him. Thomas Long owned more 
than the required amount and he suggested that they 
select a lot on his land for the reason that he could give 
it and stili be eligible to the right of voting. About 
this time a Mr. Jones who was a theological student, 



180 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

came from the Seminary in Pennsylvania and passed 
through this community. He stopped with Thomas 
Long, who told him of the intention of the community 
to build a church in their midst. This gentleman en- 
couraged the movement. He was shown the proposed 
locations. He favored the one proposed by Thomas 
Long and this became the building site. 

The congregation was organized by Thornton Butler 
in 1856. He had charge of the Reformed congrega- 
tions in Davidson County at this time. The members 
met August 13th to begin work for the erection of the 
church. The church was built and formally dedicated. 
It was a frame building filled in with brick and plas- 
tered. 

In giving a historical sketch of this congregation it 
it befitting to dwell upon the life of Thomas Long, 
who was one of the charter members, an Elder when 
the first churcn was built, and afterwards became 
pastor of the congregation. He was born in Davidson 
County near Bethany Reformed Church. He was a 
son of John Long and a member of a large family. 
His brother Allison Long was a minister in the Re- 
formed Church. Thomas Long received no education 
but that of the free schools of his day; but he was 
evidently a man of considerable natural ability. He 
applied himself to a diligent study of the Bible, ex- 
ercised a true and abiding faith in God, lived out the 
great truths of the Gospel, and thus by his own wise 
persevering efforts, he prepared himself to render the 
Church in his day good service. He married Elizabeth 
Furguson and began life upon the farm. To them 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 181 

were born four children. After her death, he married 
Amanda Berrier and to them were born six children. 
During the Civil War there was a scarcity of Reformed 
ministers in North Carolina; so on the third day of 
May, A. D. 1863, he was licensed to preach the Gospel. 
When the Reformed Churches in Davidson County 
were divided and made to constitute the Upper David- 
son Charge and the Lower Davidson Charge, he be- 
came pastor of the Upper Davidson Charge. This 
was his first and only charge. Here he labored till 
about 1886, when age and bodily affliction disqualified 
him for the duties of the ministry. Though he was 
without a college education, yet, by purchasing good 
books and consulting Dr. Welker, he acquired a clear 
conception of the principal theological doctrines then 
held by the churches. A doctrinal sermon preached 
by him is remembered, in which he defended the Re- 
formed view over against some other then being 
propagated, and his arguments were unanswerable. 
In some things he may not have held strictly to Re- 
formed customs. He always knelt in prayer. He 
was a farmer and worked on his farm and raised fine 
crops. In the pulpit he was awkward, making few 
gestures and seldom changing his position. He 
preached without notes, but his sermons nad power. 
It is not known that he ever received a stated salary. 
He served four congregations and often preached at 
school-houses and " stands" in different parts of the 
county. He later organized Mt. Tabor at the "Poor 
House," and when he resigned the charge he still re- 
tained this congregation for years; and when he be- 



182 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



came too feeble to stand and preach, these people so 
devoted to him made a chair and he would sit and talk 
to them. He often traveled in a two-wheeled gig 
drawn by a little black mule, and with his long locks 
of hair flowing from beneath his broad-brimmed hat 
made a striking appearance. He advocated the 
neighborhood prayer-meeting in the community and 
great was the spiritual uplift received from these 
meetings. Father Long had a strong physical consti- 
tution, but by exposure and over-exertion he became 
a great sufferer from rheumatism in his old age, and 
was practically helpless for many years before his 
death. He was in great demand in his community. 
He was sought by many for advice in the adjustment 
of difficulties and disputes. 

As a scholar and preacher Father Long was not 
profound or eloquent, but very earnest and sincere. 
His message carried conviction because it came from 
the heart and his own experience. He did a good 
work and the churches of the Upper Davidson Charge 
— especially Pleasant Retreat — are greatly indebted 
to him for his long life of sacrifice and untiring efforts. 
His funeral was conducted by Rev. H. A. M. Hols- 
houser, assisted by Rev. J. H. Shuford of the Reformed 
Church and Rev. Lutz of the Lutheran Church. His 
remains were placed in the little country grave-yard 
beside the church of which he was a member from its 
establishment till the end of his life. 

Rev. G. Dickie Gurley supplied the congregation 
one year after Rev. Long's active pastorate but be- 
fore he resigned. Rev. J. H. Shuford, a native of 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 183 

North Carolina, became the pastor of this congrega- 
tion in the spring of 1887 and preached until the 
summer of 1888. Rev. J. C. Leonard, a native of 
Davidson County, succeeded Rev. Shuford in 1889 
and served until 1897. Rev. H. A. M. Holshouser, a 
native of Rowan County, became pastor in 1897 and 
remained until the end of the year 1903. Rev. W. H. 
Causey, a native of Davidson County, became pastor 
January 1, 1904, and remained until January 1, 1907. 

Classis met at this church in the spring of 1875. 
Jeremiah Ingold of Hickory, a learned and pious man, 
was elected President. Rev. G. W. Welker of the 
Guilford Charge was present in his official capacity as 
Stated Clerk. Revs. J. C. Clapp, Thomas Long, J. W. 
Cecil, P. M. Trexler, J. H. Shuford and John Ingle 
were also present. Sermons were preached during 
the meeting by Ingold, Clapp, Trexler and Shuford. 
This was Rev. Shuford's first attendance at Classis as 
an ordained minister. 

The first building was used as a house of worship 
until 1902, when it was superseded by the present 
building. It had become very much dilapidated and 
did not meet the needs of the congregation nor the 
demands of the times. So the congregation under the 
pastoral supervision of Rev. H. A. M. Holshouser 
erected a new house of worship quite adequate to its 
needs. The church has been a religious centre for 
the community ever since its organization. At this 
time it has a membership of 116. It is active in the 
Sunday School and the benevolent work of the church, 
and is liberal towards the support of the pastor. 



184 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

17. Mount Carmel Reformed Church, Davidson County. 

Mt. Carmel Reformed Church is four miles west of 
Lexington in the County of Davidson. It is an off- 
shoot of the Pilgrim and Beulah congregations. Rev. 
Thornton Butler, pastor of the Davidson Charge, 
began to preach at the school-house of district number 
26 in January, 1848, and he organized the congrega- 
tion in August, 1849. Andrew Koontz and John 
Hedrick were the first Elders and Samuel Koontz and 
John L. Hedrick were the first Deacons. In 1855 an 
arbor was built near the school-house, and this arbor 
and the school-house served as the places of worship 
until the year 1880, when a neat and comfortable 
church was erected. The congregation is connected 
with the Lower Davidson Charge. This church has 
suffered greatly from removals of its promising young 
people to other localities. 

18. Mount Tabor Reformed Church, Davidson County. 

Mt. Tabor, a child of Pilgrim Church, is four miles 
east of Lexington in Davidson County. The house 
of worship was built and the congregation organized 
by Rev. Thomas Long in the year 1883. It was for 
several years incorporated with the Upper Davidson 
Charge. In 1888 it was detached from tb's charge 
and constituted an independent mission. It was in 
1894 united with the Lower Davidson Charge. Its 
membership has grown from a handful to a large 
congregation. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 185 



19. Jerusalem Reformed Church, Davidson County. 

This church is in the southern part of Davidson 
County, distant some twelve or fourteen miles south- 
east of Lexington. The congregation was organized 
by Rev. Thornton Butler in 1858 for the convenience 
of the members of Beck's Church who were living too 
far from their place of worship. It is a union church 
and forms a part of the Lower Davidson Charge. It 
has never had a large membership, but has been active 
in good works. It has in the last several years suffered 
greatly from the exodus of its members to the towns. 
Its pastors have been Thornton Butler, P. A. Long, 
M. L. Hedrick, A. R. Holshouser, W. H. McNairy, 
L. M. Kerschner, H. E. Sechler, W. H. Causey, Paul 
Barringer and P. M. Trexler. 

20. Hedrick's Grove Reformed Church, Davidson County. 

The original members of Hedrick's Grove were trans- 
ferred mainly from Beck's. The congregation was 
organized the first Sunday in May, 1891, with forty- 
one members. Allen Hedrick, R. E. Hedrick and 
John Black were elected Elders, and R. L. Beck, H. H. 
Hedrick and Franklin Hedrick, Deacons. The pastor 
at the time was Rev. A. R. Holshouser. 

The erection of the church was commenced in the 
fall of 1890. The corner-stone was laid on Thanks- 
giving Day, the address being delivered by Rev. J. C. 
Leonard, at that time pastor of the Upper Davidson 
Charge. This building was intended for both church 
and school purposes, with school rooms on the first 
floor and an auditorium above. It was furnished 



186 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



during the winter. The church was dedicated July 
31, 1892. Rev. J. C. Leonard preached the sermon 
from Genesis 28: 17, "This is none other but the house 
of God, and this is the gate of heaven." 

An academic school was conducted here in 1892 
and 1893 by Messrs. R. E. Leonard and Crawford 
Clapp. Rev. W. H. McNairy also taught in the 
academy during several months of his pastorate in 
the church. The public school of the district is taught 
in this building every year. 

Hedrick's Grove Church is located in a fine agricul- 
tural section of Davidson County in a thickly popu- 
lated community. Its members come mostly from a 
long line of Reformed ancestors. It has had a rapid 
growth. Its misfortune is that it has had no pastor 
during several years of its history. Its regular pastors 
and those who have supplied this pulpit are the fol- 
lowing: Revs. A. R. Holshouser, W. H. McNairy, L. M. 
Kerschner, H. E. Sechler, Paul Barringer and P. M. 
Trexler, D.D. Classis met in this church in 1892. 

21. Calvary Reformed Church, Davidson County. 

Moffit's Grove school-house, two miles west of 
Thomasville, was for many years a preaching point 
for all denominations. The Reformed Church had 
once organized a small congregation here, but it never 
amounted to much and was allowed to go down. In 
1889 the Classis of North Carolina committed the in- 
terest here and in Thomasville to the care of Rev. 
P. M. Trexler, pastor at Concord. The intention was 
to get the members living in the town and in the coun- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 187 

try to unite their forces and build a church at the edge 
of Thomasville. The Rev. P. M. Trexler preached 
once a month during the classical year, but the plan 
proved impracticable. In 1891 the Classis appointed 
Rev. J. C. Leonard, pastor of the Upper Davidson 
Charge, to look after the interest at Mofiit's Grove 
and instructed him to organize a congregation if 
deemed advisable. At the same time the Classis 
pledged two hundred dollars towards the building of a 
church. After several services were held the outlook 
seemed favorable, and accordingly Calvary Reformed 
Qhurch was duly organized November 30, 1891, with 
the following charter members: D. A. Long, Mrs. D. A. 
Long, John A. Long, Mrs. Mary A. Clinard, R. C. 
Clinard, Margaret Kanoy, Cicero Kanoy, Minnie Belle 
Kanoy, Lauella E. Kanoy, Martha Belle Kanoy, 
Lizzie Kanoy, Francis V. Kanoy, A. F. Kanoy, Louisa 
V. Kanoy, F. W. Kanoy, Mary Ann Kanoy, John 
Shuler, Nathan Ward, Alice Ward, Lottie Kanoy, 
Eliza Kanoy, Sarah Kanoy. Immediately afterwards 
Bethlehem Black and Mrs. Bethlehem Black were re- 
ceived. The first officers were D. A. Long and F. W. 
Kanoy, Elders, and A. F. Kanoy, Deacon. All the 
services were held in the school-house. 

During the winter and spring the work of building 
a neat frame church was pushed forward. The lot was 
donated by Mr. and Mrs. D. C. Moffit. The members 
of the church and friends in the community did a great 
deal of the work. The new house of worship was 
dedicated May 29, 1892. The sermon was preached 
by Rev. P. M. Trexler, D.D., and the service was con- 



188 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



ducted by Rev. J. C. Leonard. In 1892 Calvary Church 
was attached to the Upper Davidson Charge. It re- 
mained in this connection until April, 1896, when it 
became a part of the newly constituted Thomasville 
Charge. Rev. J. C. Leonard was the pastor from the 
beginning of its history until April, 1896. His suc- 
cessors have been Revs. Clarence Clapp, J. N. Faust, 
W. W. Rowe, Fred. Cromer, Lucian W. Showers and 
Irwin S. Ditzler. 

Calvary Church is located in a prosperous farming 
community near the town of Thomasville. The con- 
gregation has grown and is at present in a flourishing 
condition. The future is hopeful. 

22. Heidelberg Reformed Church, Thomasville. 

In 1894 the Classis of North Carolina instructed 
Rev. J. C. Leonard, at the time pastor of the Upper 
Davidson Charge, to canvass the town of Thomas- 
ville, and if found advisable to organize a congrega- 
tion. Accordingly Heidelberg Reformed Church was 
organized June 17, 1894. W, L. Myers and J. T. Long 
were elected Elders, and T. A. Livengood and R. P. 
Murphy, Deacons. The following became members 
at the organization: John A. Long, Mrs. John A. Long, 
Daisy L. Long, Joseph P. Long, Cora Long, W. L. 
Myers, Mrs. W. L. Myers, Randall P. Murphy, J. T. 
Long, Mrs. J. T. Long, T. A. Livengood, Mrs. T. A. 
Livengood, J. Lee Briles, Mrs. J. L. Briles, E. B. Clod- 
felt er and R. T. Cecil. The congregation was organ- 
ized in Mr. T. A. Livengood's house on Main Street, 
where all the services were held for several months. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 189 

During the spring months of 1895 the services were 
held in a room over the store of Mr. W. L. Myers. The 
lot on Main Street was purchased in the summer of 
1895 for four hundred dollars, and the erection of a 
house of worship was at once commenced. The work 
was pushed rapidly, and the lecture room was ready 
for occupancy in August, and the services were held 
in it until the auditorium was finished. The new 
church was dedicated December 15, 1895, Rev. J. L. 
Murphy preaching the sermon. The following Re- 
formed ministers were present: Revs. J. W. Cecil, 
W. H. McNairy, J. L. Murphy and the pastor, Rev. J. 
C. Leonard. 

In 1896 the Thomasville Charge was constituted, 
consisting of Emanuel, Calvary and Heidelberg con- 
gregations, and the charge was enrolled as a mission 
by the Board of Missions. The pastors of the charge 
so constituted have been Revs. Clarence Clapp, J. N. 
Faust, W. W. Rowe, Fred. Cromer, L. W. Showers 
and I. S. Ditzler. 

23. First Reformed Church, Lexington. 

Lexington is the county-seat of Davidson County. 
The Abbott's Creek section was settled by Germans 
from 1745-1755. The first church established within 
the present limits of Davidson County was Leonard's 
(Pilgrim) Church. Beck's, Sower's and Bethany are 
all old congregations. But the town of Lexington 
was neglected by the Reformed Church. Members 
located here from time to time, but the majority of 
them were absorbed by other churches. At the annual 



190 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

meeting of the Classis of North Carolina at Arnold, 
Davidson County, in 1900, a request was sent to the 
Board of Missions for the enrollment of Lexington 
and High Point. At the same time Classis pledged 
$400.00 towards a house of worship in each town. 
In July the Board of Missions acted favorably on the 
request of Classis, and commissioned Rev. J. C. Leon- 
ard as missionary for both places to begin work the 
first of October. The missionary located in Lexington 
in August and began to prepare for the building of a 
church. A loan of $1,000.00 was granted by the 
Board of Missions. A handsome lot was secured at 
the corner of Centre and Salisbury Streets at a cost of 
$900.00. Work was commenced on the building 
October 4, 1900, when the missionary, the Rev. Mr. 
Leonard, placed the first brick in the foundation. 
The work was pushed rapidly forward, and the new 
church was ready for occupancy January 20, 1901, 
when the first service was held. Immediately after 
the service the congregation was organized with the 
following members: C. L. Everhart, Mrs. Sallie Heit- 
man, Mrs. J. F. L. Tussey, Mrs. Sallie Hinkle, Mrs. 
Amanda Sowers, C. C. Burkhart, Mrs. Emeline Burk- 
hart, E. A. Rothrock, Mrs. Amanda J. Rothrock, Ada 
E. Rothrock, P. J. Leonard, Mrs. Carrie P. Leonard, 
Dupree Clodfelter, Early Clodfelter, Mrs. Callie H. 
Sowers, Mrs. S. Rothrock, Mrs. Corinna Holmes, 
Charles Burkhart, Mrs. Catharine Burkhart, J. T. 
Hedrick, Mrs. Velna Hedrick and Mrs. Charles Rhodes. 
P. J. Leonard, E. A. Rothrock and C. C. Burkhart were 
elected Elders, and J. T. Hedrick, C. L. Everhart and 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 191 

D. Clodfelter, Deacons. The Sunday School was 
organized the following Sunday, January 27th ; with 
fifty-five persons in attendance. 

The beginning was a humble one, but the member- 
ship entered upon the work in faith. The church was 
dedicated to the Triune God, February 17, 1901, by 
the pastor, Rev. J. C. Leonard. The sermon was 
preached by Rev. J. L. Murphy, D.D., of Hickory, on 
the text: John 17: 21. The subject was: " The Glory 
of a United Church." Other ministers of the Reformed 
Church present were: Revs. J. N. Faust of Thomas- 
ville and H. A. M. Holshouser of Pilgrim. The present 
membership of the church (1907) is 150. The Sunday 
School has an enrollment of 250 in the main school, 
36 in the Home Department and 30 on the Cradle 
Roll. The congregation owns a parsonage which 
stands on the church lot. 

24. Second Reformed Church, Lexington. 

The Second Reformed Church of Lexington is an 
outgrowth of the First Church. In the fall of 1903 
the Nokomis Cotton Mill Company donated a lot near 
the point where the Raleigh road crosses the Southern 
Railway. Rev. J. C. Leonard, pastor of the First 
Reformed Church, secured the money for the new 
church from friends in Lexington and elsewhere. The 
first brick in the foundation was laid November 23, 
1903. The first service in the new church was held 
Sunday afternoon, March 13, 1904, the sermon being 
preached by the Rev. Mr. Leonard. The house of 
worship was dedicated May 22, 1904. Rev. J. C. Clapp, 



192 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

D.D., preached the sermon from Psalms 26: 8. The 
Sunday School was organized June 5, 1904, with about 
70 scholars. On the same day a congregation was 
organized with the following members: B. W. Koontz, 
S. L. Thomason, R. Everhart, G. Everhart, Mrs. Sallie 
Everhart, Crissie A. Swing, Ella Swing, Cora Ree 
Craver, Mamie L. Craver, T. A. Swing, Minnie L. Ever- 
hart, Claudia Alice Everhart, Mary Frances Barr, May 
Milliken, Mrs. Phoebe Ripple, Belle Ripple, Mrs. Del- 
phina Swing, R. H. Grimes, Mrs. Mattie Grimes, H. A. 
Thomason, Mrs. Ida Thomason. R. H. Grimes and 
S. L. Thomason were elected Elders, and B. W. Koontz 
and T. A. Swing, Deacons. Mr. A. S. Peeler, a student 
in the Ursinus School of Theology, was commissioned 
by the Sunday School Board and spent his summer 
vacation in 1904 in this school. The work has gone 
forward with much encouragement. The present 
membership of the congregation is about seventy. 



CHAPTER V. 



The Central Group of Churches. 
1. Grace {Lower Stone) Reformed Church, Rowan County. 

LOWER Stone Church in Rowan County and Pil- 
grim Church in Davidson County are the two 
oldest Reformed Churches in this section of the State, 
both dating back of 1760. The present building used 
by the Grace congregation dates from 1795, and for 
forty years prior to that date the congregation occu- 
pied a log church. The first church, called the 
" Hickory Church," was built in 1754 or 1755. Elder 
Casper Holshouser was born in 1785 and died in 1870 
at the advanced age of 85 years. Fortunately his 
statements concerning the early history of the congre- 
gation have been preserved and are reliable. He was 
often in the old house before it was removed, and he 
remembered well the facts given by older members of 
the church. He said that the opinion expressed in 
later years and held by some that the old church was 
a union church was without foundation or authority. 
The Reformed Church was numerically strong in this 
region from the beginning. There were many Re- 
formed families and many strong and active young 
men. These families lived on Little Buffalo, Dutch 
Buffalo, Bear Creek Cold Water, Jenny Wolf and 
Dutch Second Creek, and were connected with this 

(193) 



194 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



church. When the Hickory Church had grown 
strong and flourishing, the desire for a more commo- 
dious and substantial building matured into purpose, 
and developed into a plan. A tract of sixteen acres 
of land was secured from Lorentz Lingle for the sum 
of five pounds, proclamation money of the province 
of North Carolina. This was part of a large tract of 
land granted to the said Lingle by the Earl of 
Granville. This deed was made in February, 1774, 
and conveys the land to Andrew Holshouser and John 
Lippard for the use of the " Calvin Congregation.'' 
About this time, through the neglect or dishonesty of 
the Earl of Granville's agents, many instruments put 
on record failed to convey a good title, and in order to 
secure this in due form, the original Trustees trans- 
ferred the property to Jacob Fisher and John Casper. 
In this deed the church is called "The German Presby- 
terian Congregation on Second Creek in the Dutch 
Settlement." 

The agents of the Earl of Granville made a grant 
of 572 acres of land to Lorentz Lingle December 21, 
1761. But this grant included the "Hickory Church" 
grounds. Many of the early settlers were " Squatters " 
on the Granville lands in this section of North Caro- 
lina. It may also be said that some of the churches 
were "Squatters." This was true of the "Hickory 
Church," for it was built on land belonging to the 
Earl of Granville, as was also its nearest neighbor, the 
old Leonard's (Pilgrim) Church across the Yadkin 
River. This explains why Mr. Lingle gave a deed 
to Mr. Holshouser and Mr. Lippard for the congrega- 
tion. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 195 

The present house of worship, the second on the 
ground, is built of rough stones. It is not known 
where the stones were quarried, but likely trom 
some vein or slate ridge in the vicinity. The walls are 
massive, measuring 32 inches at the ground, 27 inches 
at the floor and 21 at the gallery. The building is 
40 by 50 feet, and the walls are 27 feet high, with 
12-foot gables. More than twenty years elapsed 
before the church was completed. The long time 
required was no doubt owing to the fact that the 
Revolutionary War was in progress during a part of 
this period. Securing necessary funds was quite a 
task. Besides the direct gifts of the people, fairs (not 
lotteries as has been stated) were held from which 
some revenue was secured. In 1797 the Synod was 
overtured by this congregation to take up a collection 
for the building fund of the church, but the request 
was not granted. Another disadvantage was that 
there was no regular pastor to look after the work, 
Rev. Samuel Weyberg having his time taken up in 
teaching and serving the Cabarrus Churches and 
those on Abbott's Creek, and Rev. Andrew Loretz of 
Lincoln County being able to visit them only at in- 
tervals of several months. The work was not finally 
completed until about the year 1800, and possibly 
later. The church was not dedicated until November, 
1811, during the pastorate of Rev. George Boger. 
Rev. Andrew Loretz of Lincoln County preached the 
sermon. Rev. Dr. Robinson, pastor of Poplar Tent 
Presbyterian Church, was present and took part in the 
services. 



196 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



The style of architecture of this church is peculiar 
to that period. The floor was laid with smooth stones, 
and these remained in place until 1871. The pulpit 
was in the usual design of the wine-glass, with the 
over-head sounding-board. There were galleries on 
three sides. While Rev. R. F. Crooks was pastor the 
ancient pulpit was removed and one of modern design 
was installed. Later on other improvements were 
made, including a belfry and bell. During the pas- 
torate of Rev. C. B. Heller the parsonage and its sur- 
roundings were beautified and improved to an amount 
of over $400.00, and the ancient cemetery was enlarged 
to more than twice its former size, inclosing the 
church within its bounds. 

During the pastorate of Rev. Paul Barringer the 
centennial of the church was observed on the 2d, 3d 
and 4th of August, 1895. Addresses were delivered 
by Rev. Dr. Cyrus Cort of Wyoming, Delaware, Rev. 
Dr. Wm. E. Hoy of Japan, Rev. Dr. J. C. Clapp of 
Newton, Rev. Dr. J. L. Murphy of Hickory, Rev. B. F. 
Davis of Concord and Rev. C. B. Heller of Mt. Craw- 
ford, Virginia, a former pastor. 

Over each of the three doors is a verse in German. 
Translated into English they are as follows : 

Over the South Door. 
" To the glory of God has been built, 
The Church which you here behold, 
By a people who God confess, 
And name themselves after Jesus Christ; 
Who are also incorporated with Him, 
And they call themselves ' The Reformed. 
1795, Grace Church. The end." 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 197 



Over the West Door. 
" Let thy Word in Zion resound, 
Go with each one, out and in; 
And when, in throngs, we tread 
Where the service of God is held, 
Oh, do Thou bless us, Lord; 
Grant also faithful Ministers, 
Who Thy Word pure with profit teach, 
And the world to Thee convert. 
Grace Church." 

Over the North Door. 
"We go into our house of God 
With heartfelt joy, in and out, 
God permits us still to l>.ad 
The precious Treasure, the Word of Life, 
Here He shows us Heaven's gate, 
The forgiveness of our sins. 
Grace Church." 

To the right of the south door is the face of a dial 
chiseled on the face of a smooth blue stone, and on this 
is the inscription: "Im Yahre Christi 1795," that is: 
"In the year of our Lord 1795." The hands of the 
clock point to the hour 9:30. This no doubt means 
that the walls of the house were finished at that hour 
on a certain day in the year 1795. An old German 
record reads as follows in English: 

"IMMANUEL. 

With the help of the triune God have those who are 
herewith connected succeeded thus far that the build- 
ing was commenced and completed. We herewith 
announce to our posterity who those were who under- 
took and brought it to completion, and upon what 



198 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

grounds this church was built, and who at this time 
were in control. 

1. This church was built on the principal ground 
and corner-stone Jesus Christ, who has revealed His 
holy teachings and mysteries to His believing ones, 
and Dr. Calvin and Zwingli who have made us ac- 
quainted with the valuable understanding of Jesus 
Christ, and according to their doctrine we call our- 
selves Evangelical Reformed. 

2. This house was built in the State of North Caro- 
lina, Rowan County, which is called the Salzburger 
district, over which Governor William Davie now 
reigns. But unfortunately our Government of the 
whole fourteen states is not founded on our faith in 
Jesus Christ. But anyone who believes in one God, 
and not in the Holy Trinity, can get so far as to be 
President, be he a Jew, heathen or Christian, it is all 
the same. 

3. This house shall be called Grace Church, because 
the eternal life and the means of grace for the same are 
gifts from God the Father through our Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

4. This house shall, if God give us grace, be dedi- 
cated by our beloved pastor who has served us already 
six years — namely, Rev. Pastor Andrew Loretz, who 
was born a brother of the House of God, as a member 
of the Canton of Zurich, a Swiss from Europe. 

5. For this edifice a building committee was elected 
who were members of the congregation — namely, Sir 
George Henry Berger and John Sifford. They con- 
sidered the burden too great and they therefore de- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 199 

clined and it was not undertaken. Finally the con- 
sistory undertook the work — namely, Elders Jacob 
Fisher and John Casper and the Deacons Franz Lingle 
and John Fisher who with the aid of the congregation 
were their own building masters until the church was 
completed." 

This paper was evidently written in 1798, because 
that was the year in which Wm. R. Davie was Gov- 
ernor. This would indicate the high esteem also in 
which Rev. Andrew Loretz was held by the congrega- 
tion. He was not the pastor at the time of this writ- 
ing, but had served the congregation six years from 
1789 to 1795. It is likely that the writers of this 
document expected the church to be dedicated in the 
year 1798 or 1799. There is no record to show why 
this plan was not carried out, but probably further 
disappointment was -met in collecting funds. As 
already stated, the Synod failed to grant the funds 
asked for in 1797. But the desire of having Rev. 
Andrew Loretz dedicate the church was realized, even 
though the dedication was deferred until 1811. 

The congregation is in possession of fairly good 
records from 1782. Mr. Jacob Fisher presented to 
the church in 1782 a large blank book for the record 
of baptisms. The name of the first child recorded in 
this record is Anna Maria Maurer (Mowery). She was 
the daughter of Frederick Maurer, and was born May 
7, 1782; the date of the baptism is October 20, 1782. 
On the same date the twin daughters of David Kluttz, 
Anna Maria and Catharine, born September 9, 1782, 
were also baptized. The officiating clergyman was, 
of course, Rev. Samuel Suther. 



200 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

The terms of the first pastorates are not recorded. 
Rev. Christian Theus, who lived over the South Caro- 
lina border, made occasional missionary journeys to 
the German settlements in North Carolina as early as 
1755. He must have known of the " Dutch settle- 
ment on Second Creek" and visited those Germans. 
The Rev. Mr. Martin preached for the dispersed Ger- 
mans in 1759 and subsequent years, and the Rev. Mr. 
Dupert came in 1764. These ministers preached to 
all the congregations of Reformed people in North 
Carolina and the upper part of South Carolina. Rev. 
Samuel Suther located in North Carolina in 1768 and 
preached for the Mecklenburg (now Cabarrus), Rowan 
and Guilford congregations for 18 years, with occa- 
sional assistance from Rev. Christian Theus. The 
following dates from 1768 are approximately correct: 



Rev. Samuel Suther 1768-1786. 

Rev. Andrew Loretz 1789-1795. 

Rev. Samuel Weyberg 1795-1803. 

Rev. George Boger 1803-1830. 

Rev. Daniel B. Lerch 1830-1834. 

Rev. John Lantz 1837-1853. 

Rev. Thornton Butler 1853-1869. 

Rev. John C. Denny 1869-1874. 

Rev. Robert F. Crooks 1876-1881. 

Rev. G. D. Gurley (supply) 1882-1884. 

Rev. Calvin Boyd Heller 1884-1891. 

Rev. Paul Barringer 1894-1897. 

Rev. W. H. McNairy 1897-1900. 

Rev. Chas. H. Riedesel 1900-1903. 

Rev. Walter W. Rowe 1904- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 201 



It is likely that Rev. W. C. Rankin, the Classical 
missionary, supplied this church in 1835 and 1836. 
Rev. Gilbert Lane was associated with Rev. Thorn- 
ton Butler during a short period in the years 1856- 
1857. Rev. John Ingle was supply about six months 
during Rev. Thornton Butler's pastorate while Mr. 
Butler was ill, and also about six months after Mr. 
Butler's resignation. Revs. J. C. Clapp and J. A. 
Foil jointly supplied the church two years, 1874- 
1876, and Rev. J. J. Excell three months in 1892. In 
the temporary absence of Rev. W. H. McNairy in 
1897-1898, Rev. Michael L. Hedrick preached for the 
congregation about seven months. 

Among the interesting traditions connected with 
Grace Church is one to the effect that the first church 
in the community was a union church, in which 
the Lutherans had an equal right, located about six 
miles northeast of the present site. This tradition 
says that it was agreed to build a union church of 
stone to take the place of the dilapidated wooden 
building, and that the site selected was the present 
location of Organ Lutheran Church. It is said that 
from misunderstanding or disagreement the two con- 
gregations separated after a year's labor, and that 
the Reformed moved to the present location and built 
a church whose inside walls would receive the outside 
walls of Organ Church, and that in height would take 
in the roof of the latter. But investigation discredits 
the union tradition. Each congregation from the 
first seems to have had its own house of worship built 
of hickory logs. The Lutherans began to build their 



202 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



stone church one year earlier than their brethren of 
the Reformed faith. There was no doubt a friendly 
rivalry between the two congregations and the Re- 
formed took advantage of their privilege to build a 
church which would be large enough to contain that 
already commenced by the Lutherans. 

The parsonage was built during the pastorate of 
Rev. Thornton Butler by Lower Stone, Bear Creek 
and Holshouser's Churches. It is now owned by 
Lower Stone exclusively. The parsonage property 
adjoins the church lands. 

Lower Stone Church is in a flourishing condition. 
It is the mother church in this part 01 the Classis. 
Many people of prominence have gone out from its 
membership. It has given to the church the follow- 
ing ministers: Revs. A. R. Holshouser, M.D., James 
Lippard, J. M. L. Lyerly, Ph.D., H. A. M. Holshouser 
and A. S. Peeler. Lower Stone has given many mem- 
bers to all the new churches in Rowan and Cabarrus 
Counties. 

The following represent the family names of Lower 
Stone at the present time: Barringer, Boger, Bost, 
Brown, Bonds, Beaver, Corl, Carter, Fisher, Foil, 
Fouts, Hipp, Holshouser, Isenhouer, Kluttz, Lippard, 
Lyerly, Miller, Misenheimer, Mesimer, Peeler, Powlas, 
Rimer, Roseman, Sifford, Shuping, Moose, Reinhardt, 
Josey, Scott and Hammond. 

2. Coldwater and Gilead Reformed Churches, Cabarrus 
County. 

Coldwater Reformed Church dated from the years 
that immediately followed the exodus of the German 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina 203 

Protestants from Pennsylvaina to the Carolinas. 
The church now known as Mt. Gilead is the successor 
of the old Coldwater Church, which had its name from 
a well-known stream in that region on whose banks 
the early German settlers of Cabarrus (then Mecklen- 
burg) made their homes. This Coldwater Church was 
the oldest Reformed Church in that part of the State. 
No records of organization can be discovered, but 
most probably it may have been done by Rev. Samuel 
Suther, who already in 1768 was its pastor. It is 
to this church and its members that Governor Tryon 
refers in his journal, kept during his military raid on 
the Regulators, under date of August 21st (Sunday) : 
" Heard Mr. Suther, a Dutch minister, preach who 
recommended with warmth a due obedience to the 
Laws of the Country and a union of heart to support 
the Peace and Tranquillity of the Province." Rev. 
Samuel Suther was ordered by Governor Tryon to 
accompany the Rowan and Mecklenburg battalions on 
this expedition, as their chaplain, which he did. 
While they were in camp at Hillsboro he preached as 
the following order shows: "It is ordered that Mr. 
Suther preach tomorrow (Sept. 25, 1768) to the Rowan 
and Mecklenburg battalions. Service to begin at 11 
o'clock." (Colonial Records, Vol. 7, page 834.) 

In the year 1814 Coldwater Church became a union 
church, Lutheran and Reformed. In the year 1843 
the Lutheran congregation withdrew and erected 
their own house of worship in the town of Concord. 
Owing to causes unknown, but possibly the removal 
of Suther to South Carolina, this Reformed congrega- 



204 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

tion was for a time almost extinct, until it was revived 
under the ministry (1851) of Rev. J. Ingold. It did 
not seem to prosper, the house was old and dilapi- 
dated, when under the ministry of Rev. Dr. Ingold 
the congregation moved out on the Salisbury and 
Concord road, within three miles of the latter place, 
built a new brick church and called it Mt. Gilead, or 
as it afterwards came to be called "Old Gilead/' from 
the fact that it remained standing for some years 
after the New Gilead Church was built in 1887-8, 
thirty or forty yards from the old church. After the 
"New Gilead Church" was built the "Old Gilead 
Church" was used as a Sunday School room until no 
longer fit for use. 

The first records accessible date from October, 1851. 
The record speaks of the Joint Consistory of the 
charge as composed of Mt. Zion and Coldwater 
Churches in session at Peter Deal's. Here that body 
"resolved to purchase a new book to chronicle the 
records of the charge's work," and from that day to 
this we have a pretty full record of the acts and pro- 
ceedings of that body. Also at that same meeting 
we find the following interesting record: "Resolved 
upon consultation that a change of ministers would 
not be for the benefit of this charge as a whole, there- 
fore we undertake to make up the salary for another 
year." "Moved and seconded, that in case Coldwater 
raise the amount of sixty dollars, that they have one- 
third of the Rev. J. Ingold 's time for the next year." 
One would infer from the above that Coldwater was to 
have one-third of the preaching, but the next clause 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 205 

puts a different interpretation upon it. "Moved and 
seconded that in case they do not raise the amount of 
sixty dollars that they raise the amount of forty-five 
dollars for one-fourth of the time, and the days of 
preaching to stand as they were for the past year." 
Therefore we infer that these resolutions refer to the 
pastoral work of the minister in charge. The pastoral 
oversight was to them, as it should be to all charges at 
the present, a matter of great concern and was an 
object of serious consideration. In the records of the 
following year (1852) we have the first mention of 
Mt. Gilead. During this year there were frequent 
meetings of the Joint Consistory, and it is vaguely 
hinted that there was being made a sale and transfer 
of some of the church property of the charge. No 
doubt it relates to the disposal of the Coldwater prop- 
erty. On the seventh of March, 1852, a meeting of 
the officers was held, and we find the following which 
is very indefinite: "The Commissioners, who were 
appointed out of both churches, to sell the old church 
property, and see to the rebuilding of the grave-yard, 
reported through one of the Commissioners and was 
accepted." We cannot conjecture to what church 
property reference is made unless it be that of Cold- 
water. Both churches, Mt. Zion and Coldwater, seem 
to have had an interest in the proceeds as the money 
due Mt. Zion was to be turned over to the Treasurer 
of that church and to be loaned "into good hands." 
At the close of this year 1852 we find the record speaks 
of Mt. Gilead and its share of preaching to be half on 
condition that Mt. Gilead raise eighty or eighty-five 



206 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



dollars for the pastor's salary. A record in the min- 
utes of this annual meeting shows how careful our 
forefathers were that every cent of money given 
to the church should be kept as a sacred fund. "Re- 
solved, that the Treasurer purchase a money purse to 
keep the church's money in." Since Suther's time the 
following have served as pastors: Revs. Ingold, Ingle, 
Cecil, Trexler, Barringer, Davis and the present pastor, 
Rev. John H. Keller. Of these, Rev. Paul Barringer, 
D.D., served the longest — twenty years. Under his 
pastorate the work was greatly blessed and prospered. 
It was also during his pastorate that the present com- 
modious building was erected, in which at the present 
day still worship the descendants of the Coldwater 
Reformed fathers after the manner of their ancestors. 
Here you may find Foils (Phyles), Hilemans, Clines 
(Kleins), Meisenheimers, Shinns, Cooks, Suthers, etc. 

Among the large-hearted and noble people of sub- 
stantial character who have been worshippers here, 
and who have been loyal supporters of the Gospel, 
perhaps the most prominent in its history have been 
and still are the Hilemans. Of one of these, Elder 
John Hileman, or Father Hileman as he was usually 
called, special mention must be made as his just tribute 
and due. As a boy he was catechized and confirmed 
in the Old Savitz or Mt. Zion Church, China Grove. 
Soon his piety and worth as a layman was recognized 
and while young he was elected Deacon and soon there- 
after was called to the honored position of Elder, which 
office he continuously and most acceptably filled for 
more than fifty years. During the pastorate of the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 207 



sainted Dr. Ingold in the West Rowan Charge, old 
Coldwater in said charge became sadly in need of a 
strong leader from among the laity. Dr. Ingold recog- 
nized in Mr. Hileman, then a young man, one who 
would meet his expectations. In this he was not dis- 
appointed. At the earnest solicitation of Rev. Ingold, 
Elder Hileman transferred his membership to old 
Coldwater, and here exercised a wonderful influence 
in the growth and development of the congregation. 
He was ever regarded as the pillar of this church, 
which fact is shown in his practically building the 
"Old Mt. Gilead Church/ 7 making, hauling and laying 
the brick with his own hands in 1857, only a short 
while after his transfer from Mt. Zion to Coldwater. 
When the "New Gilead Church' ' was built in the years 
1887-88, old Father Hileman, who was then living a 
practically retired life, gave a four hundred dollar 
subscription to the pastor who was canvassing the 
congregation for the new building. He made the 
significant remark when subscribing: "If more is 
needed let me know." When the walls and roof were 
completed he asked the privilege of finishing the in- 
terior, which was done bv his own hands and must 
have cost him fully four hundred dollars more. Father 
Hileman was a most active and skilled workman in 
wood and iron, a model farmer and an honest public 
miller. Father Hileman was not a man given to 
ostentation of manner, but was quiet, sturdy and de- 
termined in character, whose motives in religious 
convictions were always of the highest type. As a 
thinker and worker he had few equals and no superiors 



208 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



among the laity. He was well informed on questions 
of theology, and a student of the Bible. He was 
chosen as a delegate to the annual meetings of Classis 
more frequently than any other Elder in the charge. 
He seldom failed to attend these meetings when 
elected to represent the church. He took the church 
papers and informed himself on all that was being done 
within the bounds of the different Synods. He was 
a strong supporter of the doctrines of the Reformed 
Church. He believed in catechization and a thorough 
knowledge of the Heidelberg Catechism before admis- 
sion to full church membership. His sense of right 
and honor was so strong that he was regarded as one 
of the most upright men in the whole community. 
He was a graduate from the great university of ex- 
perience, a valuable friend to the poor, a true exponent 
of the dignity and value of labor, a champion of virtue 
and an uncompromising enemy of vice ; these traits of 
character humbly manifested in his Christian life emi- 
nently qualified him to be a most valuable counselor. 
He labored long and well, departing this life on Thurs- 
day, March 16, 1905, aged ninty years, five months 
and four days. His last words were: "I have tried 
to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with 
my God." Father Hileman left two sons, one of 
whom, Ambrose, now dead, achieved quite a reputa- 
tion in the political world r having been elected to the 
House of Representatives of his native State several 
times, and was once Speaker of the House. He was 
also a ruling Elder for a number of years at the Gilead 
Church. Hence both father and son were Elders at 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 209 

the same time in the same church. Crawford Hileman, 
the oldest and only remaining son, has been an officer 
also for many years in Gilead Church. The mantle of 
his father seems to have fallen upon him and he bears 
it worthily. He is a man of influence and commands 
the respect of all who know him. 

The new church at this place was dedicated in the 
fall of 1888, and the dedication sermon was preached 
by the sainted Dr. Welker, who was a warm friend of 
the pastor, Rev. Barringer. His sermon was able and 
made a most profound impression on the audience as 
he spoke of the sacredness of the occasion in setting 
apart the building to the service of the Triune God. 
Out of this congregation has grown a vigorous scion, 
Keller Reformed Church, which was organized and a 
church built in 1900. Rev. Paul Barringer, D.D., 
preached the dedication sermon from the 122d Psalm, 
1st verse: "I was glad when they said unto me, let 
us go into the house of the Lord." 

Some years prior to this quite a nucleus of Reformed 
people were found in the town of Concord, a number 
of whom came from the Gilead congregation. Under 
the instruction of the Mission Board, Rev. G. D. Gur- 
ley was commissioned to organize a congregation at 
this point. He proceeded to do so, but soon became 
discouraged and abandoned the work, when the Rev. 
Paul Barringer, who then labored in the Gilead Charge, 
kept up the interest, preaching in a rented hall, until 
a lot could be secured and a church built to which old 
Father Hileman was the first contributor, giving ten 
dollars. Rev. Barringer secured the greater part of 



210 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

the money necessary to build this new church at 
Concord, when he then turned over the work to Rev. 
J. W. Cecil. Also upon a visit of the Rev. Barringer to 
the Bethel (Bear Creek) congregation of the East 
Rowan Charge, quite a donation in lumber was secured 
for the church in Concord. 

3. Mt. Zion Reformed Church, Rowan County. 

Mt. Zion Reformed Church is located in Rowan 
County a mile south of the present town of China 
Grove. It is on the north side of the Southern Rail- 
way and the large brick church and the neatly kept 
cemetery present a fine appearance as viewed from 
passing trains. This church was originally known as 
"Savitz's," in the later records corrupted into " Sav- 
age's/' but the real name from the first is supposed to 
have been Mt. Zion. 

The date of its origin is unknown. German settlers 
came to this community as early as 1745 and earlier. 
They were members of the Reformed and Lutheran 
Churches. The first resident pastor was Rev. Samuel 
Suther, who lived near the old "Coldwater Church." 
The members who organized Savitz's Church may 
have been at first connected with Coldwater Church, 
as that seems to be the older of the two. But in the 
absence of positive records dates cannot be fixed. It 
is possible that " Savitz's Church" was organized prior 
to the coming of Martin and Dupert to this German 
settlement of North Carolina. The following tradition 
may refer to a date as early as 1755. This traditional 
history comes down from a man by the name of 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 211 

Allen Rose, a school teacher who taught in the school- 
house at the old Savitz's Church. The story was given 
to Allen Rose by an old Mr. Shuping, and by Mr. Rose 
was given to his son Calvin Rose. This tradition 
says that the church was originally to be located two 
or two and a half miles west of the present site, on a 
farm now owned by Joseph Sechler. The logs had all 
been cut and placed on the grounds. The day for the 
raising of the walls was appointed, and all the people 
gathered and began work in good earnest. But 
after the foundation was laid and the first logs placed, 
one of the builders became offended at a remark made 
by another. This brought on a quarrel in which a 
Large majority of those present took part. In the 
midst of the disturbance a peacefully disposed gentle- 
man threw down his axe and declared: "I do not 
propose to be a party in the erection of a house for 
Almighty God that has been begun in bitter strife." 
Others followed his example, and soon the work came 
to an end. Nothing more was ever done at this point, 
and the timbers were allowed to go to decay. 

But two of the workers started home, travelling 
east. They were anxious to have a house of worship 
for themselves and their German brethren. Reaching 
the point where they must separate, they sat down 
to eat their dinner. Naturally their conversation was 
about the distressing affair of the morning. As they 
ate their dinner, one of the gentlemen remarked: 
"This spot would be a desirable location for a church. ,, 
The other agreed that it would, provided water could 
be found near by. They then started out in search 



212 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

for water, and to their great joy found a spring con- 
veniently near. This place was selected, and a little 
later a log church was built. It is the site of the pres- 
ent Mt. Zion Church. The first church was a small 
building, afterwards displaced by a larger one painted 
red. A half-witted man in the community conceived 
the idea that red was Satan's emblem, and he delib- 
erately set fire to the building as he said in order to 
burn the devil. 

Another church was soon built on the same founda- 
tion. This church was occupied by the Reformed and 
Lutherans jointly until 1836. In that year the Luth- 
erans withdrew and built a church of their own a few 
hundred yards away. The Reformed congregation 
continued to occupy the old church for a few years 
and then built a brick church on a lot of their own. 
This was in the year 1844. The lot of four acres of 
land was purchased from Catharine Partee for forty 
dollars. The following were the officers at this time: 
Andrew Shuping, David Correll, Solomon Sechler and 
John Hileman, Elders; Jacob Shuping, Jacob Shulen- 
berger, Daniel Corriher and Levi Correll, Deacons. 
March 21, 1846, David Correll made a donation of 
eighty-five acres of land to the Elders of the congre- 
gation in trust for parsonage purposes. The Elders 
at this time were Henry Sechler, Solomon Sechler, 
Peter Deal and Jacob Shuping. 

The old church was demolished in 1876 and the new 
church was commenced in 1879. It was a dark period 
in the history of the congregation from the tearing 
down of the old church until the completion of the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 213 

new. The parsonage property was sacrificed to com- 
plete the work and save the church. Finally the 
house of worship was completed. 

The family names now appearing on the Mt. Zion 
list are as follows: Linn, Deal, Correll, Corriher, Sech- 
ler, Holshouser, Peeler, Sloop, Bostian, Beaver, Lit- 
aker, Blackwelder, Plott, Yost, St ire wait, Pethel, 
Overcash, Fleming, Shuping, Shulenberger, Cook, 
Kirk, Honberger, Weaver and Freeze. 

The pastorates beginning with the year 1768 have 



been as follows: 

Rev. Samuel Suther 1768-1786. 

Rev. Andrew Loretz 1789-1792. 

Rev. Samuel Weyburg 1793-1802. 

Rev. George Boger 1802-1830. 

Rev. Daniel B. Lerch 1830-1834. 

Rev. John Lantz 1837-1845. 

Rev. Jeremiah Ingold 1845-1856. 

Rev. Samuel J. Fetzer 1858-1863. 

Rev. Jesse W. Cecil 1863-1866. 

Rev. John Inglee 1866-1874. 

Rev. Jesse W. Cecil 1874-1875. 

Rev. Julius H. Shuford 1876-1877. 

Rev. Peter M. Trexler 1877-1881. 

Rev. Paul Barringer 1881-1891. 

Rev. Peter M. Trexler 1892-1894. 

Rev. Anthony Shulenberger 1895-1900. 

Rev. Joshua L. Bowers 1901- 



The old cemetery contains quaint inscriptions on 
some of its many monuments. There are many names 
familiar at this present time, and many that no longer 



214 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



occur anywhere in the community. In the old ceme- 
tery lie buried the mortal remains of Rev. Samuel J. 
Fetzer, of blessed memory, and by his side lies the 
body of his wife. Father Fetzer was born in Wood- 
stock, Virginia, September 14, 1820, and died while he 
was pastor of Mt. Zion and Cold water Churches, 
August 8, 1861. He is still lovingly remembered by 
his parishioners who survive to the present day. 

James Overstreet, who was a Representative in the 
Seventeenth Congress from South Carolina, is buried 
in this cemetery. He was traveling by stage from 
Washington City to his South Carolina home when, 
on the 24th of May, 1822, he was taken violently ill 
as he was passing through this community and died. 
He was buried by the Masons. His age was 49 years, 
3 months and 13 days. In this "city of the dead" 
we find the familiar names Savitz, Sechler, Partee, 
Beaver, Shuping, Correll, Corriher, Ervin, Linn, 
Baker, Yost, Deal and many others. Many of these 
were among the pioneers of our Reformed Church. 

The new cemetery is one of the prettiest and most 
carefully kept anywhere in the country. It is the 
common burying-ground of a large section of country. 
Abraham Sechler was the first person buried in the 
new graveyard. He died June 23, 1882. Mrs. Alice 
E. Bostian was the second. She was buried July 11, 
1882. Both these persons were members of the Re- 
formed Church. There are now more than three hun- 
dred graves in the new cemetery. 

In 1891 three churches, Mt. Zion Reformed, Chapel 
Lutheran and St. Mark's Lutheran, purchased from 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 215 

W. A. K. Sloop and wife a plot of ground north of the 
union cemetery, each church holding a separate plot 
in the new purchase. This is also beautifully kept, 
each church paying a proportionate part for the 
support of a keeper who gives his entire time to this 
work. 

In 1799, on the first day of June, John Litaker 
deeded four acres of land to Conrad Sloop, Jacob Bos- 
tian, Adam Correll and Jacob Correll, " Elders and 
Trustees for the United German Congregations of the 
Presbyterians and Lutherians." The " Presbyterians' ' 
were of course the Reformed and the "Lutherians" 
were the Lutherans. This represents only a part of 
the church property, as there had been gifts of a few 
acres by others. The Reformed and Lutherans held 
this jointly until 1898, when the two by mutual agree- 
ment made a division of the property. The share of 
the Mt. Zion congregation was four and one-half 
acres, adjoining their individual property. 

4. Bethel (Bear Creek) Reformed Church, Stanly County. 

Bethel, commonly known as Bear Creek (originally 
"Barren Creek"), is situated in the extreme western 
end of Stanly County. A German record, which bears 
no date, reads as follows: "Let this record show to 
everybody and particularly to those who have a right 
to know that we, born by the Grace of God in the 
Christian Church and some implanted in the same 
through baptism and confirmation in Europe and 
others in America, have settled here in North Carolina 
at the eastern end of Cabarrus and western end of 



216 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



Montgomery County on the waters of Bear Creek and 
Buffalo Creek, and that we call ourselves Evangelical 
Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed, according to the 
faith of our ancestors. Since we agree on the leading 
points of Christian doctrine and no difference exists 
between us, except the outward name which God 
does not respect but only looks upon the purity of 
faith and purpose of the heart among all people, and 
since those that fear Him and do right are dear to 
Him, and since the Preserver and Benefactor of the 
whole human race not only wills that all His children 
prosper in earthly things but that they also come to 
a knowledge of the truth and their souls shall be for- 
ever happy, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls 
has sought us lost and scattered sheep in this hemi- 
sphere and has called and acknowledged us through 
His Word outwardly, and through His Spirit inwardly 
and has blessed us in spiritual things and has awakened 
in us the desire that we should like often to attend 
His Holy Church services and the place where His 
honor dwelleth, and that we should like to see our 
growing youth brought up in a Christian manner and 
instructed in true Christianity." 

Services were held in this community some time 
before any church was built. The nearest regularly 
organized congregation was that on Second Creek, 
in Rowan County. Here Rev. Samuel Suther had 
preached eighteen years, from 1768 to 1786. And 
prior to this time, Leinbach, Martin and Dupert had 
held services. Some or all of these men held occasional 
if not stated services wherever German settlements 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 217 

were found ; and the Bear Creek settlement was not 
overlooked. Rev. Andrew Loretz came to Second 
Creek Church in 1789, and he no doubt preached also 
at Bear Creek, as did also Weyberg and Boger. The- 
ophilus Loetter, a German school teacher who taught 
near the site of the present church, sometimes held 
services for the people. He was in the community 
as early as 1797, and was a highly-educated man. 
He was the first person buried in the cemetery, but 
the grave is unmarked. Services were held in Chris- 
topher Lyerly's barn and the Col. George Barnhardt 
barn. 

The work of building the church was commenced 
March 21, 1806. The first sermon was preached in 
the church May 25, 1806, the day of Pentecost, by 
Rev. George Boger. The architect of the church was 
Christopher Lyerly. He and Henry Seitz were in- 
stalled as Deacons of the congregation in November, 
1806, and they served until 1811, when they were 
recognized as Elders. William Heynsemann and 
John Barrier were then made Deacons. Seitz and 
Barrier were Reformed. 

The first church was built of pine logs, and its con- 
struction went forward very slowly. The means of 
the people being limited a petition was sent to the 
" Charleston Society" for assistance. In response, 
three boxes of window panes were sent. It is said to 
have been thirty years before the church was entirely 
finished. 

At the beginning of this congregation the following 
families were represented: Henry Seitz, Christopher 



218 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Lyerly, John Barrier, William Heynsemann, Matthias 
Barnhardt, Henry Hahn, Zacharias Lyerly, Henry 
Smith, Christian Gregory, Jacob Hegler, John Reiden- 
hour, William Lowder, Andrew Smith, Barbara Moose, 
Jacob Barrier. Barbara Moose was a widow with 
several children, her husband having died before the 
organization of the church. 

The Reformed and Lutherans worshiped in the same 
church harmoniously for many years, electing the 
same officers, and sometimes supporting the same 
pastor. But in course of time it became evident that 
a division would be better, and this was effected August 
16, 1875. The Reformed congregation retained the 
church lands, consisting of 110 acres, and the old 
church, while the Lutherans secured a new site and 
built about two miles east. Many Lutherans united 
with the Reformed Church. The land was originally 
deeded by Christopher Lyerly to Henry Smith and 
his successors in office. The date of the deed is July 
2, 1809. The Reformed continued to worship in the 
old church until 1878, when a new building was erected. 
The work was begun in January, and the new church 
was dedicated the fourth Sunday in October, 1878. 
Rev. J. W. Cecil preached the sermon. Rev. R. F. 
Crooks was the pastor at the time, and Daniel M. 
Moose was the leading spirit in the erection of the 
church. 

Rev. George Boger was the first regular pastor of 
the congregation after the building of the first church. 
His successors were the ministers who at the same 
time served the Lower Stone (Second Creek) Church. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 219 

There have been many good and loyal people among 
the membership of this church. John Barnhardt 
served as Elder thirty years. He greatly rejoiced 
over the spiritual prosperity of the people. He often 
held prayer-meetings, and read sermons to the people. 
John Moose (father of Caleb and John H. Moose) and 
Col. George Barnhardt were prominent in church work 
in their day. The following names represent the 
families of the congregation at present : Moose, Lentz, 
Palmer, Moody, Sides, Barrier, Hurlocker, Fisher, 
Lyerly, Wagoner, Black welder, Rowland, Penninger, 
Shoe, Peck, Hartman, Harwood. 

The Bear Creek congregation is an active community 
of people in church work, being above the average in 
this respect. The church has been open every Sunday 
for at least twenty-five years past for religious services 
of some kind, and there have always been worshipers 
present no matter what the state of the weather. 
The annual "Missionary Sales" add much interest to 
the benevolent operations of the church. The idea 
originated with Mr. John F. Moose in 1880. The first 
sale amounted to about eight dollars. In 1905 the 
sum realized was one hundred and seventy-five dollars. 
Mr. Daniel M. Moose has cried all these sales. 

5. Shiloh Reformed Church, Rowan County. 

Shiloh Reformed Church was organized March 19, 
1871, by the Rev. J. C. Denny, pastor of the East 
Rowan Charge, which at that time consisted of Lower 
Stone, Bear Creek and Mt. Hope. Seventeen persons 
entered into the organization, with J. W. Fisher and 



220 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



T. H. Webb as Elders, and W. E. Dunham and Dewalt 
Kluttz as Deacons. Mt. Hope was then separated 
from the East Rowan Charge and joined with Shiloh 
to constitute the Central Rowan Charge. For some 
time previous to the organization services had been 
held in an old log school-house by Rev. Denny and 
P. M. Trexler, a student for the ministry. The organi- 
zation was effected for the convenience of the Re- 
formed people living in Salisbury and its vicinity, who 
were at too great a distance from Mt. Hope or Lower 
Stone to make it convenient for them to worship at 
either place. The church was built during the fall 
and winter preceding the organization by the members, 
with F. M. Holshouser and Laws on Fisher as foremen. 
About two miles southwest of the location of the new 
church stood an old frame church building, owned by 
the Methodists, and called Shiloh; but owing to want 
of members and lack of interest the congregation had 
passed out of existence. This building was purchased 
for a small sum, and as much of it as could be profit- 
ably used was wrought into the new structure. For 
this reason, and because some of the few Methodists 
remaining cast in their lot with the Reformed, the 
new church fell heir to the name of the defunct Metho- 
dist organization, and was called Shiloh. The cost of 
this building and the date of its dedication are not 
known. This church was built on two and a half 
acres of land, deeded by J. W. Fisher and T. W. 
Haynes for the consideration of five dollars on Janu- 
ary 1, 1873, "to Dewalt Kluttz, F. M. Holshouser 
and Michael Beaver, Deacons of the German Re- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 221 

formed Church." This tract of land lies on the west 
side of the old Charleston Road, three miles southeast 
of Salisbury, on a slight eminence. The church was 
located near the road in the midst of a beautiful 
grove of oaks, and commanded a fine view of the 
surrounding country. Student P. M. Trexler, having 
been licensed by the Classis on June 2, 1871. served 
jointly with Rev. Denny the new congregation until 
Sunday, September 17, 1871, when the former 
was ordained and installed as pastor, Rev. S. R. 
Fisher, D.D., editor of the "German Reformed Mes- 
senger," preaching the sermon, Revs. Ingle and Allison 
Long taking part in the ordination and installation 
services. On the Saturday preceding, immediately 
after the preparatory services, a meeting of the Joint 
Consistories of the Rowan Charges was held, at which 
time were adopted and signed the famous "Shiloh 
Resolutions," which had been drawn up by Rev. 
Denny. An interesting special meeting of Classis was 
held in this church in December, 1871, to consider the 
"Shiloh Resolutions," and also an overture from the 
Dutch Reformed Church inviting North Carolina 
Classis to unite with that body. Rev. Trexler con- 
tinued as pastor until some time during 1876, when 
he was succeeded by Rev. J. C. Denny, whose pastor- 
ate extended to January 1, 1878. 

In November, 1877, some of the members proposed 
to their pastor that they hold a week or ten days 
revival service. Rev. Denny consented. At this 
time the Methodists of the Western District of the 
North Carolina Conference were holding their annual 



222 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

sessions at Salisbury. The meeting at Shiloh had 
continued but a. few days when it was suggested that 
application be made to the Methodist Conference for 
preachers to help carry on the meeting. The request 
of course was gladly and promptly granted, and some 
of their best men were sent out each day, two at a 
time. The meeting grew daily in interest, the attend- 
ance being very great. As a consequence, the power 
and influence of the Methodist preachers grew every 
day, until the building of a Methodist Church began 
to be agitated; in a few days more it was suggested 
that Shiloh Reformed congregation go over to the 
Methodist Church. This movement came very near 
taking the whole Reformed congregation at one sweep 
into the Methodist Church. Every one seemed to be 
wrought up to a high tension along this line; but just 
in time, under the Providence of God, some of the 
good old Reformed Church members began to get 
upon their feet and to think seriously about what was 
taking place. Those who saved the day for the Re- 
formed Church by refusing to surrender the property 
were John Wilson Fisher, Daniel M. Klutts, F. Monroe 
Holshouser and Crawford Peeler. As a result of this 
disaffection fully one-half of the membership of Shiloh 
was swept into the Methodist Church. Much bitter 
feeling and strife was engendered, which did not 
finally disappear until the lapse of five or six years. 
The pastor, Rev. Denny, having sorely compromised 
himself in the whole sad affair, was regarded as the 
one most to blame. The Classis cited him to trial to 
answer for his conduct, but fearing the consequences 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 223 



he left the Reformed Church, made application to and 
was received as a minister into the Baptist Church. 
Thus ended a disagreeable experience in the history 
of this congregation whose name means peace. Rev. 
Denny was succeeded by Rev. John Ingle, who took 
charge January 1, 1878, and closed his pastorate Janu- 
ary 1, 1883. He was succeeded by Rev. R. F. Crooks, 
who was pastor until July, 1888. Rev. J. M. L. Lyerly 
was called as pastor July 1, 1889, and continued as such 
until June, 1892, when he resigned to take up the 
work in the Lincoln Charge. The congregation was 
again vacant until July 1, 1893, when Rev. Lyerly 
again became pastor and served until July 1, 1906, at 
which time it became an independent charge, having 
been so constituted by North Carolina Classis at its 
annual sessions in May, 1906. Shiloh congregation at 
that meeting was detached from the Central Rowan 
Charge and called Faith Charge. Rev. Lyerly supplied 
Shiloh congregation from July 1, 1906, until October 
1, 1906, when Rev. C. B. Heller became the pastor. 

On August 26, 1898, a meeting was held at Faith, 
Rowan County, to consider the advisability of securing 
the removal of Shiloh Reformed Church to that place. 
Faith at that time was a small village built along the 
old Charleston Road, three miles south of Shiloh 
Church, and contained about two hundred inhabitants, 
nearly all of whom were members of the Lutheran and 
Reformed Churches, although there was no church in 
the village. For some time previous to the above 
date a union Sunday School had been conducted in 
the public school building, and a prosperous Young 



224 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Men's Christian Association had been formed. At 
this meeting in August, 1898, after a thorough discus- 
sion it was ordered that a petition be placed in the 
hands of D. A. Wiley (Lutheran) to secure the signa- 
ture of all persons desiring to enter the organization 
to report on the 2d of September, 1898. The proposi- 
tion had been made that the Lutherans join with the 
Reformed at Shiloh and at Faith in a union church 
at the latter place, hence the appointment of D. A. 
Wiley to circulate the petition. On the second of 
September, 1898, a number of persons met according 
to adjournment. D. A. Wiley failed to appear. The 
reason for this failure of Wiley to appear was owing 
to the fact that the Lutherans, fortunately for both 
themselves and the Reformed, concluded that the 
necessity for union churches no longer existed, and 
resolved to organize a church of their own. Another 
petition was placed in the hands of John A. Peeler. 
On September 4, 1898, the petition from the Reformed 
members at Faith was presented to the Shiloh congre- 
gation, and on the seventh ot September Shiloh con- 
gregation met and decided that it did not see its way 
clear at that time to move its place of worship to 
Faith. On September 14, 1898, the Reformed people 
of Faith met, and by a unanimous vote resolved to 
build a church, which was completed and dedicated on 
Easter Sunday in the j^ear 1899, Rev. J. C. Leonard 
preaching the sermon. The lot, sixty by one hundred 
feet, was donated by the Peeler brothers, P. A. Peeler, 
L. M. Peeler and Jno. A. Peeler. The whole cost of 
the new church, including pews, bell and ornamental 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 225 

iron fence was sixteen hundred and twenty-five dol- 
lars. Before the church at Faith was finished the 
following named members of Shiloh, all that re- 
mained of a once prosperous congregation, decided to 
cast their lot in with their brethren at Faith, and all 
were re-organized under the old name of Shiloh : J. W. 
Gardner, Mary E. Gardner, W. S. Brown, Martha 
Brown, Robert Brown, Agnes Brown, Ivey Brown, 
Adam Fulk, Mary Fulk, William Bringle, Lorenzo 
Walton, Mrs. L. Walton, Mamie Byrd, Thomas Byrd 
and Jane L. Byrd. In July, 1899, the following named 
members of St. Luke's Reformed Church were trans- 
ferred to Shiloh congregation at Faith: John Franklin 
Wilhelm, Mrs. Mary Wilhelm, P. A. Peeler, Mrs. Mary 
L. R. Peeler, David D. Peeler, Martha J. Peeler, John 
A. Peeler, Mrs. Clara Peeler, L. M. Peeler, Mary E. 
Peeler, George H. Peeler, Mrs. Lottie Peeler, Jane C. A. 
Peeler, May Agnes Peeler and John Andrew Murray 
Peeler. In the fall of 1899 the old Shiloh church 
building was sold to Wesley Brown, one of the mem- 
bers, for seventy-five dollars. The building was trans- 
ferred to Granite Quarry and converted into a store 
building. Shiloh congregation, though now located 
at Faith, still holds the original tract of land, including 
cemetery, which is cared for by the members. The 
congregation also owns a cemetery in Faith. The 
present membership is eighty, with bright prospects 
for the future. The following have served as officers 
from the date of the organization to the present time : 
Elders, Wilson Fisher, T. H. Webb, Michael Beaver, 
Dewalt Kluttz, Alfred Peeler, John Franklin Wilhelm, 



226 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



5. E. Davis, P. A. Peeler, W. S. Brown, F. M. Hols- 
houser and J. E. Holler; Deacons, Wm. E. Dunham, 
Dewalt Kluttz, Henry Kirk, Daniel Kluttz, Crawford 
Peeler, Adam Lyerly, F. M. Holshouser, J. W. Gardner, 
A. M. Faulk, L. C. McCombs and J. W. Jones. 

6. St. Paul's and Mt. Hope Reformed Churches, Rowan 

County. 

St. Paul's congregation, also known as Holshouser's 
Church, was organized in March, 1850, by the Rev. 
John Lantz, with the following seventeen members: 
Jacob Lingle, John Lippard, Sr., John Lippard, Jr., 
Daniel Peeler, David Kluttz, Solomon Kluttz, Peter A. 
Fisher, David Fisher, John Yost, Michael Shuping, 
Margaret Kluttz, Barbara Kluttz, Anna Weaver, 
Mary C. Trexler, Sarah Peeler, Christina Peeler and 
Eliza Rendleman. Jacob Lingle and Daniel Peeler 
were the first Elders and John Yost and Solomon 
Kluttz were the first Deacons. St. Paul's was situated 
about four miles from Salisbury near the New Concord 
Road in the neighborhood of Holshouser's Mill, now 
known as the old Heilig Mill. St. Paul's was originally 
built as a union church by the members of the Re- 
formed and Lutheran Churches. Andrew Holshouser, 
a member of the Reformed Church, gave the land on 
which the church was built. But by some means the 
Lutherans came into possession while the church was 
still incomplete, for after the Reformed congregation 
was organized the Lutherans proposed that if the 
Reformed would assist in finishing the church they 
should have an interest in the property. But it seems 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 227 



that the Reformed, having obtained an interest in the 
property, lost it through a mistranslation of the 
German word "Reformirte," which was rendered into 
English by the word " Presbyterian." 

In November, 1865, the Classis of North Carolina 
authorized the Rev. Thornton Butler to disband the 
congregation at St. Paul's and organize at a point 
about seven miles from Salisbury, on the "New Con- 
cord Road." 

In the year 1866 a beautiful brick church sixty by 
forty feet was erected. The brick were made by the 
members of the congregation. Before and during the 
erection of the building services were held in the 
grove. On the 14th of January, 1866, the congrega- 
tion was organized under a new name, Mt. Hope Re- 
formed Church. The following persons at this organi- 
zation were elected officers: Elders, David Roseman 
and Solomon Kluttz; Deacons, John W. Fisher, J. H. 
A. Lippard, E. S. P. Lippard and Martin Yost. Soon 
after the church was built it was dedicated. Rev. 
Thornton Butler preached the sermon. The land on 
which Mt. Hope Church is built was given by two 
persons. Jacob Lingle gave five acres, deeded Febru- 
ary 2, 1866; John Lingle gave six acres, deeded Feb- 
ruary 10, 1866. Seventy acres of land were given to 
the church by Jacob Lingle and also a sum of money 
to be used for the erection of a parsonage. The par- 
sonage was soon built. Revs. John Ingle and R. F. 
Crooks were the only pastors who lived there. The 
land has been recently sold. The first recorded bap- 
tism is that of Wade Rufus, son of George Pendleman, 



228 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

born January 21, 1851, and baptized May 24, 1851. 
When the congregation was originally organized at 
St. Paul's, it was put in the East Rowan Charge. In 
1871 it was incorporated with the Central Rowan 
Charge. In 1906 Mt. Hope and Bethany were consti- 
tuted the Crescent Charge. The following have 
served the congregation as pastors and supplies: 
Rev. John Lantz, 1850-1853; Rev. Thornton Butler, 
1853-1869; Rev. J. C. Denny, 1869-1871; Rev. P. M. 
Trexler, 1871-1877; Rev. J. Ingle, 1878-1882; Rev. 
R. F. Crooks, 1882-1888; Rev. J. M. L. Lyerly, 1889- 
1906. 

The congregation has had a very varied career. It 
has had many obstacles to overcome, its rapid growth 
being hindered. It numbers only about seventy 
members at present, but they are prominent members 
of our church in this State, and they stand high in the 
community in which they live. 

7. St. Luke's Reformed Church, Rowan County. 

St. Luke's congregation, about three and a half 
miles northeast of Rockwell, Rowan County, is an 
off-shoot of Lower Stone Church. The three acres of 
land upon which the church is erected were given by 
Alexander Peeler, father of Theological Student Lee 
A. Peeler, who is a member of this congregation. 
The cemetery ground originally belonged to Peter 
Trexler, father of Rev. P. M. Trexler, D.D. It was 
his intention to deed it to the church, but owing to 
his death, which was somewhat unexpected, it was 
deeded by the Cope Mining Company. The congrega- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 229 



tion was organized in the home of Alexander Peeler, 
December 31, 1871, by Rev. P. M. Trexler, D.D., with 
twenty members. He at that time was pastor of the 
Central Rowan Charge. After the congregation was 
organized it was incorporated with the Central Rowan 
Charge. The church was dedicated the fifth Sunday 
of June, 1873. The sermon was preached by Rev. 
J. C. Denny. Prior to the erection of the church 
services were held in the beautiful grove where the 
church now stands. The congregation at present 
does not have a large membership, about 50, but they 
are a true and loyal people of the Reformed Church. 
When the Reformed Church was built at Faith, in 
1899, many of the prominent members were dismissed 
to that congregation. Also many were dismissed to 
the organization at Blowing Rock. The following 
have served the congregation as pastors and as sup- 
plies: Rev. P. M. Trexler, December 31, 1871, to 
March, 1876 ; Revs. J. C. Clapp and J. A. Foil supplied 
until January 1, 1878; Rev. John Ingle from January 
1, 1878, to January 1, 1883; Rev. R. F. Crooks from 
1883 to July, 1887; Rev. C. B. Heller supply until 
July, 1889; Rev. J. M. L. Lyerly from July, 1889, to 
1906. During the pastorate of Rev. Lyerly it was 
vacant about thirteen months, he having gone to the 
Lincoln Charge. At the annual meeting of Classis, 
May, 1906, the congregation was incorporated with 
Lower Stone and Ursinus congregations, constituting 
the East Rowan Charge. Rev. W. W. Rowe, the 
present pastor, began work July 1, 1906. 



230 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

8. Trinity Reformed Church, Concord. 
Rev. P. M. Trexler preached in Concord a few times 
prior to the annual meeting of Classis in 1880, and 
encouraged the Reformed families there in their fond 
hope to secure the planting of a mission in that pros- 
perous town. That year a petition was sent to Classis 
asking pastoral oversight and regular services. Rev. 
P. M. Trexler was instructed to continue to look after 
the interests of the Reformed Church in Concord. 
Correspondence with Rev. Theodore Appel, Superin- 
tendent of Missions, resulted in the appointment of 
Rev. G. D. Gurley as missionary in Concord the last 
of October, 1880. Services were held in the court 
house until the close of the year. Then a hall was 
rented and fitted up in the " Means Building." A 
number of people proposing to enter the organization 
met in this hall January 1, 1881, and adopted a con- 
stitution. The name of Trinity Reformed Church 
was chosen for the new congregation. A second meet- 
ing was held January 30th, when Alexander Foil was 
elected Elder and J. W. Fetzer and J. W. Foil Dea- 
cons. These persons were inducted into office March 
20th. The following persons entered the church at 
its organization: John W. Fetzer, Mrs. Eunice Foil, 
James W. Foil, Mrs. Jane Foil, Mrs. Mark Fink, Anth- 
ony Bost, Mrs. Margaret J. Bost, Mrs. Lou Hoover, 
Miss Hester Foil, Mrs. A. H. Fetzer, Nevin Fetzer, 
Willie Fetzer, Alexander Foil, Henry Cook. Shortly 
afterwards the following persons also became members 
of the new congregation: H. A. Barrier, Mrs. M. E. 
Barrier, J. C. Lippard, Mrs. E. C. Lippard, Smith 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 231 



Shuping, Mrs. S. A. Shuping, R. T. Lippard, Mrs. E. C. 
Mitchel and Miss Jennie M. Foil. The pastorate of 
Rev. G. D. Gurley continued only about a year. Fol- 
lowing this pastorate the interest was in the care of 
Rev. Paul Barringer, pastor of the West Rowan 
Charge, until 1884. During this time preparation was 
made to build a church. Rev. Jesse W. Cecil was 
pastor one year, 1884-1885. A lot was purchased 
September 30, 1884, at the corner of Church and 
Means streets, the cost being $450. The corner-stone 
of the church was laid in May, 1884, and the building 
was rapidly pushed to completion. The first service 
was held in the new house of worship April 13, 1884, 
when the sermon was preached by Rev. J. W. Cecil, 
and the church was dedicated in May following. The 
dedication sermon was preached by Rev. G. W. 
Welker, D.D. 

Rev. P. M. Trexler was pastor from 1885 to 1891. 
The annual sessions of Classis were held in this church 
in 1887. In the year 1892 Trinity Church and the 
New Gilead Church were constituted the Concord 
Charge, and the Rev. Paul Barringer was the pastor 
for two years, from 1892 to 1894. The lot for the 
parsonage was purchased in 1893 adjoining the church, 
and the house was built the same year. Rev. B. F. 
Davis was pastor of the Concord Charge 1894-1896. 
In the latter year Trinity was again constituted a 
charge, and was served by the Rev. Mr. Davis until 
1898. He was succeeded by the Rev. J. N. Faust, 
who was installed June 11, 1898, and his pastorate 
continued until August, 1899. Rev. Wm. H. Mc- 



232 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Nairy was pastor 1900-1903. Rev. H. A. M. Hols- 
houser was pastor from January 1, 1904, until April 5, 
1905. During his pastorate the parsonage was re- 
paired and the re-building of the church was com- 
menced. He was succeeded by Rev. S. W. Beck in 
May, 1905. The entire church was covered with tin 
shingles, a pulpit recess was built, the partition be- 
tween the auditorium and Sunday School room was 
removed, a new heating plant and handsome pews and 
leaded glass windows were installed and the entire 
building was newly painted. The church was re- 
dedicated August 13, 1905, Rev. J. C. Leonard preach- 
ing the sermon. Rev. W. H. Causey became pastor 
January 1, 1907. 

9. St. PauVs Reformed Church, Enochville. 

This congregation is an outgrowth from Mt. Zion 
Reformed Church. It was organized October, 1886, 
by authority of Classis under the direction of Rev. 
Paul Barringer. In August, 1886, an appointmentjfor 
preaching was made at the Deal school-house with a 
view of securing the opinion of the Reformed people 
in that community relative to organizing a congrega- 
tion. Rev. P. M. Trexler preached from the text 
Luke 12: 32. After the service the matter of an or- 
ganization was discussed, when the decision was 
reached to meet at the home of L. B. Corriher October 
9th for the purpose of electing officers. On that date 
W. C. Rose and L. B. Corriher were elected Elders and 
J. W. Deal and L. C. Beaver Deacons. W. C. Rose, 
L. B. Corriher and J. W. Deal were appointed to secure 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 233 



the names of persons wishing to become members of 
the new congregation. There were twenty-six re- 
ported as charter members. Later in the same month 
a meeting was held in the "Old Cooper House 7 ' owned 
by J. W. Deal, when the officers were inducted into 
office, and the name St. Paul's Reformed Church was 
chosen. David Deal, Lock Beaver and W. C. Rose 
were appointed to select a building site. At the next 
meeting they reported several places, and by vote of 
the members the present site of the church was chosen. 
An acre of land was purchased from Aaron Yost at a 
cost of fifty-five dollars, and W. A. Deal was made 
Trustee. The deed bears the date November 5, 1886. 
On the death of W. A. Deal, his son, J. S. Deal, was 
elected Trustee, and he is still in office. 

The following have been the pastors of the congre- 
gation : 

Rev. Paul Barringer 1886-1891. 

Rev. Peter M. Trexler 1892-1894. 

Rev. Anthony Shulenberger 1894-1900. 

Rev. Joshua L. Bowers 1901- 

The following have held the office of Elder: W. C. 
Rose, L. B. Corriher, J. W. Deal, V. R. Kimmons, 
L. C. Beaver and W. P. Goodnight ; the following have 
been Deacons: J. W. Deal, L. B. Corriher, J. S. Deal, 
W. P. Goodnight, W. B. Beaver, Jacob W. Deal, Henry 
Yost and A. V. Kimmons. 

10. Bethany Reformed Church, Crescent. 

In 1890 a petition was sent to Classis from a number 
of persons in Gold Hill Township, Rowan County, to 



234 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

be organized into a congregation. This request was 
granted, and Revs. C. B. Heller and J. M. L. Lyerly 
were instructed to attend to the matter. Accordingly 
a congregation was organized August 23d, 1891, with 
twenty-four charter members, under the name of Beth- 
any Reformed Church. The Elders were William 
McCombs, Sr., and Maxwell Holshouser, and the 
Deacons William McCombs, Jr., and B. A. Fesperman. 
Three acres of land were donated by Maxwell Hols- 
houser, and one acre by Alexander Lyerly. The deeds 
are dated September 26, 1891. The church was dedi- 
cated October 4, 1896. Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., preached 
the sermon. Rev. J. M. L. Lyerly performed the act 
of dedication. 

When this church was organized it was incorporated 
with the Central Rowan Charge. In 1906 Bethany 
and Mt. Hope were constituted the Crescent Charge. 
Rev. J. M. L. Lyerly was the first pastor, and he has 
been the only one. 

Since Bethany Reformed Church was built the vil- 
lage of Crescent has grown up around it. In order to 
supplement his salary and make it adequate for his 
support, Rev. Mr. Lyerly began to teach a private 
school, which has since developed into Crescent 
Academy and Business College. This school under the 
careful management of its principal, Dr. Lyerly, has 
become an important educational centre. Bethany 
Church contributes no small share to the spiritual and 
moral atmosphere of the school and the village. It is 
the only church in the place. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 235 



11. St. James Reformed Church, Mt. Pleasant. 

St. James Reformed Church, of Mt. Pleasant, 
Cabarrus County, North Carolina, was organized in 
the year 1894. On December 3d of that year, the 
following persons entered into an organization: Mrs. 
C. L. Foil, L. J. Foil, Dr. M. A. Foil, W. D. Foil, Mrs. 
M. R. Miller, Dr. A. W. Moose, Mrs. A. F. Sides and 
W. J. Heilig. This organization was effected in the 
parlor of Mrs. C. L. Foil, and the constitution of the 
Reformed Church governing such bodies was adopted 
for their guidance. This congregation was organized 
under the direction of the Rev. Paul Barringer, D.D., 
during his pastorate in the East Rowan Charge. 
Preaching for the few scattered members at this place 
had been held occasionally for a number of years, but 
no effort at organization had been attempted up to 
this time. For a short period this newly organized 
congregation was served by Rev. Barringer in con- 
nection with his regular work in the East Rowan 
Charge. Subsequently the New Gilead congregation, 
by an act of Classis, and under a request from the 
Concord Charge to which church they belonged, was 
cut off and New Gilead and St. James made a charge 
under the name of the New Gilead Charge. The New 
Gilead Charge was enrolled as a mission by the Board 
of Missions and Rev. Paul Barringer was commis- 
sioned to take charge of the work. 

Accordingly on the 7th day of October, 1896, Rev. 
Barringer moved with his family to Mt. Pleasant and 
assumed the oversight of the New Gilead Charge. 
Under his pastorate the work grew and prospered and 



236 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



in a comparatively short time the Board of Missions 
was released from further support, and the charge 
became self-supporting. Dr. M. A. Foil was chosen 
as the first secretary of the congregation. Dr. A. W. 
Moose was elected the first Elder, and Dr. M. A. Foil 
the first Deacon. The congregation at first had but 
these two earnest and consecrated officers in connec- 
tion with their pastor, the Rev. Paul Barringer, to 
mould and crystallize the sentiment which was to be 
distinctively Reformed. One of the charter members, 
Mr. W. J. Heilig, donated a lot on which to erect a 
church. The building committee was composed of 
the following persons: W. J. Heilig, Dr. A. W. Moose 
and L. J. Foil. Under their vigorous efforts a beauti- 
ful little church was erected at a cost of about twelve 
or fourteen hundred dollars. There was no begging 
in this matter, for all had a mind to work. The Rev. 
Paul Barringer gave largely of his time and means to 
its erection and a vigorous effort was made to push the 
work to a completion as early as possible. The con- 
gregation being small, funds and material were solic- 
ited from other sources. It is worthy of note that to 
the success of this enterprise the "Bear Creekers" 
contributed no small part. They gave quite a nice 
contribution of lumber and in other ways encouraged 
the work. Accordingly in September, 1895, the erec- 
tion of this first edifice was begun, and it was completed 
the following May. On the third Lord's Day, in May, 
1896, the first services were held in the new church, 
and a feeling of devout praise to Almighty God for His 
great Providence was responsive in every breast. On 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 237 



the fifth Lord's Day of July, 1896, the Rev. J. C. 
Leonard preached a most excellent sermon, and the 
church was formally dedicated to the Triune God. 
All outstanding indebtedness had either been paid or 
provided for, and the church was given over to the 
service of the Master without any incumbrance rest- 
ing upon it. The congregation was now well estab- 
lished and its growth has been quite encouraging. 
This congregation numbers among its membership 
some of the most influential people of the town. The 
Sunday School is flourishing, one of the best in the 
town. The Rev. Barringer's labors terminated with 
the year 1900. Licentiate J. H. Keller, a young man 
who had just finished his theological course at Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania, assumed charge on July 1, 1901. 
His pastorate terminated with the re-districting of 
the churches in this section, July 1, 1906. Dr. Bar- 
ringer supplied the newly-constituted charge which 
consists of St. James, Bethel (Bear Creek) and Boger 
Churches, from July 1, 1906, until December, 1906, 
when the Rev. E. Gaver Williams, D.D., accepted a 
call to this work. 

12. Faith Reformed Church, Salisbury. 

As far back as 1768 there were members of the 
Reformed Church living in Salisbury, at that date of 
course only a scattered village. In a deed of convey- 
ance to the Lutheran Church the donor, John L. 
Beard, extends the use of the property to "the Re- 
formed Calvin Ministers at such times as the Lutheran 
Minister doth not want to perform divine service 



238 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



therein." That was five years before the first Luth- 
eran minister, the Rev. Mr. Nussman, located in 
North Carolina. It was the year that Rev. Samuel 
Suther, the first resident Reformed minister, came 
into that section of the State. But while there have 
always been strong Reformed Churches in Rowan 
County, the shire-town was neglected until a recent 
date. A petition from a few members living in Salis- 
bury was presented to Classis at the annual meeting 
of 1896, asking that a Reformed Church be organized 
there. Rev. A. C. Whitmer, Superintendent of Mis- 
sions, after corresponding with some of the ministers 
of Classis, had visited Salisbury and purchased a lot 
at the corner of Church and Horah Streets at a cost of 
$500.00. In response to the Salisbury overture the 
Classis appointed Revs. J. M. L. Lyerly, A. Shulen- 
berger, J. C. Leonard and Paul Barringer to organize 
the congregation and take charge of the interest. 
Classis also pledged $500 towards a house of worship. 
The committee organized the congregation under the 
name of " Faith Reformed Church/' June 28, 1906, 
with eight members. The following are the names of 
the first roll of membership: F. M. Holshouser, Mrs. 
F. M. Holshouser, H. C. Corriher, Mrs. H. C. Corriher, 
M. D. Lefler, Mrs. John Odell, Mrs. Cora Earnhart and 
Dorsett Holshouser. 

M. D. Lefler was elected Elder and H. C. Corriher 
Deacon. Rev. W. H. Stubblebine was. commissioned 
by the Board of Missions, and he entered upon the 
work November 1st. The services were at first held 
in the Y. M. C. A. rooms. A temporary chapel was 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 239 



built on the lot during the winter. The erection of 
the church was commenced in 1897, and the corner- 
stone was laid September 2, 1897. In the fall of 1898 
the auditorium was sufficiently far advanced to be 
used for services. The Rev. Mr. Stubblebine resigned 
March 1, 1899. The pulpit was vacant until October, 
when Rev. Gerney Weber became the pastor. In 
July, 1900, he was stricken with typhoid fever from 
which he died November 19th. The sickness and 
death of the Rev. Mr. Weber brought great discour- 
agement to the little flock, upon whose church also 
rested a considerable debt. The church remained 
vacant until June 1, 1901, when Licentiate William B. 
Duttera, Ph.D., became pastor. During his ministry 
the church was finished and paid for, and all former 
obligations were also met. A most interesting event 
in the brief existence of this congregation was the 
meeting of the Synod of the Potomac in this church, 
October 23, 1903. The opening sermon was preached 
by Rev. Dr. J. M. Schick, President Roosevelt's pas- 
tor. It was also in this church August 13, 1903, that 
action was taken establishing Nazareth Orphans' 
Home. In the fall of 1906 a handsome pipe organ was 
built in Faith Church. In the winter of 1906-1907 a 
parsonage was built on a part of the church lot. The 
congregation is well equipped for aggressive Christian 
work with a present membership of 75. 

13. Ursinus Reformed Church, Rockwell. 

Rockwell is a prosperous and growing town on the 
railroad from Salisbury to Norwood. Reformed 



240 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



people living here felt the need of a church, but their 
strength did not seem to warrant the undertaking 
until the spring of 1899. A lot was donated by Mr. 
J. W. Peeler, and work was commenced in August. 
Rev. W. H. McNairy, pastor of the East Rowan 
Charge, had charge of the new interest. The church 
was enclosed during the following winter, and though 
it was not finished, services were held twice a month. 
At a special meeting of Classis, January 9, 1900, the 
Rev. Mr. McNairy was authorized to organize a con- 
gregation. This he did April 5, 1900, with ten mem- 
bers. J. W. Peeler was elected Elder and B. A. Fes- 
perman Deacon. The organization took the name of 
Ursinus Reformed Church. By order of Classis it 
was incorporated with the East Rowan Charge. Rev. 
C. H. Riedesel was pastor from April, 1900, until 
October, 1903. Rev. W. W. Rowe became pastor 
January 1, 1904. During the first months of his pas- 
torate the church was completed. The corner-stone 
was laid after the church was finished, May 24, 1904. 
On the following day it was dedicated. Rev. Paul 
Barringer preached the sermon. 

14. Boger Reformed Church, Rowan County. 

At the meeting of North Carolina Classis held in 
Lexington in May, 1905, Rev. W. W. Rowe was given 
permission to organize a congregation at " Cross 
Roads" within the bounds of the East Rowan Charge. 
A church building was soon erected upon land given 
by Mrs. Caroline Boger and which at one time was 
owned by Rev. George Boger. For this reason the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 241 

church was called "Boger Reformed Church." The 
congregation was organized October 29, 1905, with 17 
members. 

The corner-stone was laid November 17, 1905. The 
church was dedicated April 29, 1906. There is a 
promising outlook here for a growing congregation. 
At the meeting of Classis in 1906 this church was made 
a part of the Bear Creek Charge. 

15. Keller Reformed Church, Cabarrus County. 

This congregation was organized August 18, 1904, 
by Rev. John H. Keller, with thirty charter members, 
who formerly held their membership in Gilead and 
Mt. Hope Reformed congregations. John W. Cline 
and John W. O. Rymer were that day installed as 
Elders and Harris Cook and John Brantly as Deacons. 

The ground for the church and cemetery was do- 
nated by John Cline; the grove for hitching by 
Wade Brantly. The church building is thirty-six by 
thirty-eight feet, frame, well constructed and neatly 
furnished, the cost being about twelve hundred dol- 
lars. The carpenters began work about June 1, 1904, 
and the church was dedicated free of debt, August 20, 
1904. 

John Cline, Harris Cook and Wade Brantly were the 
building committee. The beautiful cemetery which 
was consecrated August 19, 1904, is laid off in family 
lots. Free right to these can be secured at a nominal 
cost. 

Rev. Paul Barringer preached the dedicatory ser- 
mon August 20, 1904, to a large audience, after which 



242 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

the pastor formally consecrated the church to the 
service of the Triune God. Services are held twice a 
month. The Sunday School is increasing in numbers 
and power and the prospects are encouraging. This 
church forms a part of the Gilead Charge. 



CHAPTER VI. 



The Western Group of Churches. 
1. St. Paul's, Catawba County. 

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH is located in Catawba County 
one and a half miles west of Newton, and is the 
oldest church by a number of years on the western 
border of that numerous German settlement in North 
Carolina in the counties of Alamance, Guilford, Ran- 
dolph, Davidson, Rowan, Cabarrus, Stanley, Iredell, 
Lincoln, Catawba and some others. These Germans, 
Lutherans and Reformed, began to migrate from Penn- 
sylvania about 1745, because land in that State east 
of the Alleghanies was mostly taken up, but was 
plentiful, cheap and fertile in Western North Carolina. 
The exact date of the founding of St. Paul's is not 
known, but it is nearly co-eval with the beginning of 
the settlement. It is known that a Swiss minister by 
the name of Martin preached here in 1759, and doubt- 
less the venerable and godly Theus preached here 
still earlier. 

St. Paul's was a union church from the beginning. 
The Reformed and Lutheran settlers for the most part 
built union churches, and worshiped and lived on terms 
of delightful harmony. Eleven acres were donated 
by Paul Anthony. The deed specifies that it was for 
a church and a school-house. Religion and education 

(243) 



244 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

went together in those days. The school-master, in 
the absence of the minister, often conducted services 
in the church, buried the dead and sometimes bap- 
tized the children. The pioneer of this settlement was 
Henry Weidner (now Whitener). He came alone 
several years in advance of the rest. He crossed the 
Catawba at SherrilFs Ford and lodged there with 
Adam Sherrill, who had a fort on the west bank as a 
protection against the Indians. He first saw the 
South Fork directly west of Adam SherrhTs, near 
Rocky Ford, on the South Fork. Here he located and 
lived at peace with the Indians about five years, hunt- 
ing and trading with them for furs during the winter, 
and returning to Pennsylvania in the spring, carrying 
his pelts on several horses. There he raised a crop 
which he sold in the fall and then returned to North 
Carolina. After repeating this round about five years 
he married Miss Mary Mull, a heroic girl of sixteen 
summers, and brought her from Pennsylvania, along 
with Conrad Yoder, the progenitor of a numerous 
and respectable posterity, to make his permanent 
home on the South Fork, the scene of his residence 
among the savages. The patent for his land is dated 
1750. He acquired a large estate in land and per- 
sonal property, lived to a ripe old age and was buried 
by Rev. Andrew Loretz. His descendants are numer- 
ous, and many of them have been substantial members 
of the Reformed Church during all these years. 
Shortly after his moving and settlement came the 
Conrads, the Reinhardts, Bosts, Wilfongs, Forneys, 
Sumneys, Bollingers, Rauchs (Rowes), Ramsauers, 




st. Paul's church, catawba co., x. c. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 245 

Coulters, Fingers, Zimmermans (Carpenters), Ikerds, 
Clines (Kleins, Littles), Hoyles, Hermans and many 
others. These and their children in time swelled the 
membership of St. Paul's until it became a large and 
influential congregation. The first house of worship 
was built of logs. It became dilapidated about 1800 
and was torn down. The sound logs went into a new 
building a few yards west of the old site. It was 
weather-boarded and ceiled with material so excellent 
that most of the weather-boards are sound at this 
time (1906). The workmanship was the best in the 
country at that time. The nails were hand-made by 
smiths. The gallery is spacious and on three sides of 
the house. The pulpit was so high that it commanded 
a view of the entire gallery, but too small to allow a 
seat. The cemetery is very large and compact with 
graves. No records are to be found of the early min- 
isters. But in 1764 Dupert was recognized as pastor 
of St. Paul's. He lived near Paysower's Mill in what 
now is Gaston County. Near his home was a Reformed 
and Lutheran Church which was burned during the 
Revolutionary War. Schwum, Schneider and Bithahn 
also preached here before 1786, when Rev. Andrew 
Loretz, a young but scholarly, active and eloquent 
Swiss, came to this section from Hagerstown, Mary- 
land. After the death of Loretz, St. Paul's was with- 
out a pastor for sixteen years. During these years 
Synod sent to the churches west of the Catawba, as 
to the others in North Carolina, occasional mission- 
aries, as Reily, Rudy and others, to look after this 
part of the scattered fold. In 1828 Rev. John G. 



246 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Fritchey, just from the Seminary at Carlisle, Penn- 
sylvania, took charge of all the Reformed Churches 
west of the Catawba River. He came just in time to 
strengthen the things that remained, for grievous 
wolves had crept in and some of the folds were scat- 
tered. But during the twelve years of his pastorate 
he restored the old congregations to renewed life and 
activity and organized several new ones. These were 
palmy days for old St. Paul's ; members often came 
from Burke County (30 miles) and regularly ten and 
fifteen miles. In 1840 Rev. John H. Crawford became 
pastor of St. Paul's. In 1845 Catawba County was 
formed from Lincoln County, and Newton, the county- 
seat, was located within one and one-half miles east 
of St. Paul's. The first church built in Newton was 
mainly by members of the Reformed congregation at 
St. Paul's. The new organization so depleted the 
old, that eventually it disintegrated. Rev. John 
Lantz preached to a remnant of the members who still 
clung to the sacred spot till he was called to Middle- 
brook, Virginia. Soon after this Rev. J. C. Clapp, 
D.D., confirmed a class of thirty-two catechumens at 
St. Paul's camp-ground. In this class were many 
capable and active young persons. They petitioned 
for the re-organization of the congregation. This was 
done, and soon about eighty members were enrolled 
with prospects bright and cheering. Could proper 
pastoral care have been bestowed a strong congrega- 
tion should have perpetuated the name and fame of 
this venerable house of God. Dr. John A. Foil, then 
a young minister just from Ursinus College and Semi- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 247 

nary (1872) and associated with Rev. J. C. Clapp as 
Professor in Catawba College, ministered to the new 
congregation for a few years. But they together on 
account of the dearth of ministers served all of the 
ten congregations west of the Catawba River, and 
served several in Rowan for a number of years, while 
putting in full time in the school-room five days in 
the week. Of course St. Paul's suffered for want of 
attention. However the organization survived. It 
became a part of the Catawba Charge, and under the 
pastorate of Dr. Clapp for a number of years, and then 
under that of Revs. H. A. M. Holshouser, Riedesel, 
Henry Sechler and S. W. Beck, it has become the 
strongest in the Catawba Charge. Recently, during 
the pastorate of Rev. Beck, a new and elegant house 
of worship was built in Startown and the congrega- 
tion while retaining its property in the old church 
now worships in it, as it is located in the centre of its 
territory, while the old location is on the outer edge. 
New St. Paul's has a promising future. 

In the struggle for independence her people bore a 
conspicuous part. Daniel, a son of the pioneer Henry 
Weidner, carried his father's long and famous hunting 
rifle to the battle of "King's Mountain," took deadly 
aim at Ferguson, who fell when he pulled the trigger. 
John Wilfong, a youth who afterwards acquired 
wealth and a good name, was wounded in that struggle. 
His powder horn and accoutrements are heirlooms in 
the family. The beautiful lake on the Guilford Battle 
Ground is named Wilfong in honor of him. Judge 
Schenck, who brought the grounds into their deserved 



248 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



prominence, and spent so much in beautifying them, 
married one of John Wilfong's descendants. Henry 
Weidner's famous rifle is in the museum on the Guil- 
ford Battle Ground. In 1906 St. Paul's was trans- 
ferred from the Catawba Charge to the South Fork 
Charge, to which Rev. Samuel W. Beck has been 
called. 

2. Daniel's Reformed Church. 

Next to St. Paul's in Catawba County, this is the 
oldest Reformed congregation west of the Catawba 
River. Up to 1889, it was united with Daniel's 
Evangelical Lutheran Church, both congregations 
occupying the same house of worship, using it on alter- 
nate Sabbaths. No definite data can be given for the 
building of the first house of worship, but it was no 
doubt early in Rev. Loretz's pastorate, which began 
in 1786. 

The name Daniel's was given in honor of Daniel 
Warlick, the first of that family to settle in this section, 
and one of the most noted of the members and leaders 
of the church and community. Some years ago a 
document was discovered in Charlotte, among the 
court records of Mecklenburg County, which sets forth 
that this name was given by an order of the court. 

The oldest extant records of Daniel's Reformed 
Church date back to 1809, but the congregation is 
much older, for members of the Reformed Church 
were living in this section as early, at least, as 1750. 
Its history began in the days of George the Second 
when this section was a part of Anson County; in 1762 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 249 

it was changed to Mecklenburg; in 1768 to Tryon and 
in 1779 to Lincoln. 

The most noted pioneers and patriarchs of this 
section were Daniel Warrick, Derrick Ramsaur and 
John Ramsaur. The first named took up in all 
nearly three thousand acres of land along Howard's 
and Clark's Creeks and the South Fork River. The 
oldest enterprise in Lincoln County to-day is the mill 
he established. It was once burned by the Indians. 
This property has passed down from father to son 
and is to-day owned and operated by Jacob Warlick, 
a great-great-grandson of the pioneer. 

Derrick Ramsaur entered many acres of land along 
Clark's Creek and South Fork River and near the 
junction of these streams established a mill which has 
been rendered historic as the battle-ground between 
the Whigs and the Tories, June 20, 1780, and the 
camping ground of Lord Cornwallis and the English 
army a few months later. 

Here in the ancient and populous cemetery at Dan- 
iel's, in an unknown grave, lies the body of Adam 
Reep, a member of the Reformed Church, one of the 
heroes of the battle of Ramsaur's Mill, and a noted 
Whig scout and Indian fighter whose name became 
a terror to the Tories in the Carolinas. 

John Ramsaur, the third named, came to this section 
from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1752, as on 
the fly-leaf of his memorandum book it is stated that 
John Ramsaur "to his gorny went August 27, 1752. 
Cot to my gorny 's ent to aury lambert's tis 6 day of 
October 1752," a forty days' journey. He made trips 



250 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

back to Pennsylvania, as did many of the pioneers r 
following the old Cherokee Indian trading path. 
There are items showing " black fox, auter and beever 
foor skins solt and paught." He kept an itemized 
account of expenses showing that he "pait for a bushel 
of corn, sheve of ots, bastring ferrish at the Raue- 
nock and other rivers, the cost of preckfast, tiner, 
supper, and loghing, and loves of brad ; also various 
articles such as pare of flames, pare of prittles bits, 
pare of carters, lucking Clase, canttals, wein, siter, 
pere, a tram &." 

These men were followed by the Lantzes, Summer- 
rows, Hochs (now Hokes), Reinhardts, Kistlers, Coulters, 
Heedicks, Housers, Carpenters, Anthonys, Bierds r 
Clays and others. 

Previous to the time of Loretz's pastorate, the con- 
gregations worshiped in a school house standing on 
land which has since become the property of the 
churches. This tract of land containing fifty acres 
was granted by George the Third to Matthew Floyd, 
October 26, 1767, and included a school house. How 
long prior to 1767 this school house was erected we do 
not know, but no doubt soon after the first settlers 
arrived, for it was characteristic of the German set- 
tlers, as soon as their own log cabin dwellings were 
erected and a few acres cleared, to build a school- 
house in some convenient place, which also served as 
a church house for worship. This was known as the 
"School House Church" until 1830, when the name 
was changed to Daniel's. The old log school-house 
and its successor, a frame church erected during the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 251 

pastorate of Rev. Loretz, were to these people almost 
what the magnificent temple of Solomon was to the 
Jews. They came long distances, and long before the 
hour of service collected under the shadow of the oaks 
and engaged in pleasant conversation. When the 
preacher ascended the pulpit, an old brother would 
go to the door and proclaim "All the beobles will now 
come in; de breaching is reaty." 

This tract of land was conveyed to "the two united 
congregations of Lutherans and Calvinist Presby- 
terians for the use of a church meeting house, school- 
house and other buildings, for the promotion of religion 
and learning." On July 15, 1768, Matthew Floyd 
for the consideration of ten pounds sterling conveyed 
this fifty acre tract to Nicholas Warlick, Frederick 
Wise, Urban Ashebanner, Peter Stotler, Peter Summey 
and Peter Hafner. They conveyed it January 9, 1774, 
to "the two united congregations of Lutherans and 
Calvinists." There have been some additions to the 
original tract which now contains sixty-seven and one- 
fourth acres. One of these additions to the extent of 
26 perches, was given March, 1859, by Rev. Alfred J. 
Fox, M. D., then pastor of the Lutheran congregation, 
"for and in consideration of the love and regard which 
he hath for religion and for the purpose of securing to 
the German Reformed and Lutheran congregations 
a burying ground and grave-yard." A good farm was 
cleared, a farm house erected near the church and the 
cultivation carefully looked after by the trustees of 
the congregations, and the rents have been a source of 
much revenue to the churches. The first clearing of 



252 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

the land was made in 1828. The first farm house was 
built about 1874. A new tenant house was built in 
1904. All the material for the building of this house 
was furnished by the members of the two congrega- 
tions at a cost of $134.50. The present tenant, J. F. 
Carpenter, did the work of construction, and for this 
work and acting both as sexton for both congregations 
and for keeping the grave-yard clean for four years, 
he is to have the use of the dwelling and crops from 
the church land free for the same length of time. 

To allay certain contentions that had arisen as to 
who might be entitled to share the use of the property, 
Cephas Quickel and David W. Ramsaur, December 29, 
1862, again entered the Daniel's church land. Their 
grant attested by Zebulon B. Vance, Governor, bears 
date January 20, 1863. Quickel and Ramsaur 25th 
July, 1863, conveyed the same "to George Coon, Jacob 
Kistler, Maxwell Warlick, Jacob Lantz, Daniel Seagle 
and George S. Ramsaur, Trustees of DaniePs Evangeli- 
cal Lutheran and Reformed Churches.' ' The original 
grant to the church, with signatures of the grantors in 
German, has been carefully preserved. 

The second church was built in 1844. At the meet- 
ing December 25th, the trustees had in hand $582.31. 
May 27, 1844, articles of agreement were formulated 
for the erection of a new church. These were signed 
in behalf of the Lutheran congregation by Henry 
Kistler, John Wise and Jacob Hoover; in behalf of the 
German Reformed, by Samuel Lantz, Maxwell Warlick, 
Absolom Warlick and Peter Finger. The interests of 
each congregation are carefully set forth, so as to 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 253 

avoid any friction, and " There is not to be any formal 
dedication of said church during the time the said 
congregations shall both occupy it and worship therein, 
but it is to bear the name of Daniel's Church." The 
relations continuing amicable, May 23, 1878, Maxwell 
Warlick, George Coon, George Ramsaur and Alfred 
McCaslin signed this agreement: "We the undersigned 
have agreed to have the church dedicated." On the 
second Sunday in August following the house of wor- 
ship was "solemnly consecrated to the service of the 
Triune God and the Evangelical Lutheran and Re- 
formed congregations." The services were conducted 
by Rev. J. R. Peterson, Lutheran pastor, Rev. J. H. 
Shuford, Reformed pastor, and the dedication sermon 
was preached by Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., from the 
beautiful and appropriate text: "Behold how good 
and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell to- 
gether in unity." 

"On May 28, 1884," so runs the record, "the Trus- 
tees of Daniel's Church have agreed to buy an organ 
for the use of the two congregations, Lutherans and 
Reformed, for all religious services held at Daniel's 
Church." 

The Lutherans were the first to decide to erect a 
new and separate church, which was dedicated July 
28, 1889. The Reformed at a congregational meeting 
held July 6, 1889, in the old frame church, unani- 
mously decided to build a new church, which was com- 
pleted and dedicated April 1, 1894, Rev. J. L. Murphy 
preaching the sermon from the text John 17: 21. 
Both these buildings are of brick, commodious and 



254 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

substantial. They stand within 300 feet of each 
other on the Morganton and Charlotte road, four miles 
northwest of Lincolnton, the county-seat of Lincoln 
County. The spire of the Reformed Church is visible 
from the Court House Square. 

The Lutheran congregation numbers about 225 
members and the Reformed about 80. This propor- 
tion of membership has held throughout the history 
of these congregations. 

This congregation suffered financially from the 
great Civil War, for the record shows that at "a meet- 
ing held the last Saturday of December, 1864, George 
Coon handed in to the Trustees four hundred dollars 
in Confederate States 4 per cent, certificates as be- 
longing to the church." In the February following, 
" George Coon paid into the Treasury one hundred 
dollars, proceeds of sale of rent wheat made in the 
year 1864." Added in parenthesis: "The above all 
Confederate money — lost." 

The people of this community belong to the great 
and honorable middle class, and possess more than 
ordinary refinement and culture. They are an indus- 
trious, law-abiding, God-fearing people, honoring and 
dignifying labor by their honesty, simplicity and in- 
tegrity. Their wants were few ; they bought little and 
sold much; they made no debts or contracts they did 
not expect to pay or execute, and as a consequence 
they have been a gallant, brave, independent and 
public spirited community. Farming has always been 
the principal occupation, which, in the expressive lan- 
guage of an old adage, " makes all, pays all, supports 



daxiel's church. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 255 

all." Here as elsewhere their language at first pre- 
vented them from taking an active part in public 
affairs. Towards the close of the eighteenth century, 
the names of German citizens begin to appear more 
frequently in a public capacity. In the year 1797 
John Ramsaur, an Elder of this church, represented 
Lincoln County in the House of Commons, and twice 
afterwards. In 1802 Peter Hoyle, another Elder who 
lived in sight of this church, was elected to the House, 
and thirteen times afterwards, and once to the Senate, 
fifteen times in all, a long and honorable service. 

When Daniel's Reformed congregation was organ- 
ized is not known. If not before, it was likely organ- 
ized by Rev. Martin, a Swiss who came to the western 
part of North Carolina in 1759 and preached at Dan- 
iel's. Rev. Dupert (originally DePart) also preached 
here in 1764. Between 1764 and 1786 Revs. Samuel 
Suther, Pythan and others visited and ministered to 
this people in holy things. But Daniel's Church owes 
its existence to-day to Rev. Andrew Loretz more than 
to any other man. In fact the same can be said of all 
the churches now under the care of North Carolina 
Classis. With a zeal that shunned no labor or priva- 
tion, he gave himself to the work of visiting and pre- 
serving the churches in this State and in South Caro- 
lina. He was an only son born in 1761 in the city of 
Chur (Coire), on the Rhine, in the Canton of Grau- 
bunden (Grisons) in Switzerland. Little is known of 
his early history. He received a liberal education at 
Kaufbeuren, in the Kingdom of Bavaria, where he was 
still in May, 1779. He completed a thorough theo- 



256 The Reformed Church in Xorth Carolina. 



logical course at the age of twenty-two. About this 
time he was solicited by Rev. John Jacob Kessler, 
Deputy to the Classis of Amsterdam, to come over to 
America and preach the Gospel. Accordingly in 1784 
he set sail for America, and his passport is dated from 
Chur (where still reside those bearing his name), bear- 
ing the signature of the Burgermeister of that city. 
On the seventeenth of August, 1784, after a voyage of 
three months, accompanied by his father, also by Rev. 
Bernhard F. Willy and Paul Peter Pernisius, he landed 
in Baltimore, eager to extend the field of his holy 
calling in this new wilderness. 

Rev. Kessler writes to Rev. Mr. Weyberg recom- 
mending especially Revs. Loretz and Willy to the 
Reverend Coetus, " hoping that good charges may be 
furnished them; and if possible, we hope they will 
not be located far apart, so that, being in a strange 
land, they may have fellowship with one another. 
Furthermore, we wish for their safe arrival among 
you. by God's blessing, and for their extensive use- 
fulness in the kingdom of Jesus Christ in Pennsyl- 
vania." 

After remaining a little more than one year in Penn- 
sylvania and Maryland, the greater part of which time 
was spent in ministering to churches in and near 
Meyerstown, Pennsylvania, he removed to Xorth 
Carolina in 1786. 

He came not alone, for in Baltimore he had met and 
married a Mrs. Schaeffer of that place (formerly Miss 
Lehman, of Hagerstown, Maryland) who bravely con- 
sented to share his long wilderness journey, and who 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 257 



became a most devoted helpmeet through all his ardu- 
ous labors. 

Why he wended his course hither is not known; 
perhaps the fame of this earthly paradise, that drew 
thither so many from Pennsylvania, may have seemed 
to open up an opportunity of doing good. 

Rev. Loretz located his home four miles due north- 
west of Lincolnton, Lincoln County, on a large tract 
of land which he bought for fourteen pounds North 
Carolina Currency, from Jacob Shuford on the third 
day of July, 1792. 

Upon this land, in sight of Daniel's Church, in 1793 
he built a handsome house two stories in height, 28 by 
36 feet, with solid brick walls 18 inches thick. The 
bricks on the surface are laid alternately, one red 
lengthwise, and another blue, endwise. On the east- 
ern gable, near the top are the initials and figures 
A. L. 1793, formed of blue bricks,the mean length of 
the characters being about two feet. 

In addition to the initials and figures on the east- 
ern end are two large hearts with a cross between. 
Near the top of the western end is a representation of 
the setting sun — a white plastered circle about 15 
inches in diameter, with brick radiating around the 
circumference. When new this house must have 
been a beautiful structure. It does not betray its 
age even now after the lapse of more than one hun- 
dred years, and has every appearance of lasting for 
at least a century more. 

The eligible site, the substantial walls, the interior 
structure and arrangement of this now historic struc- 



258 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



ture, indicate that Rev. Loretz was a man who pos- 
sessed considerable taste and judgment for those 
pioneer days. 

Rev. Loretz became a typical Southerner of the 
patrician class, owned slaves and fine horses. 

His neighbor and associate in the ministry of Daniel's 
Lutheran Church at that time was Rev. Johann Gott- 
fried Arndt. They were fast friends and were often 
seen walking together arm in arm and even arranged 
that whoever died first should be buried by the sur- 
vivor. Rev. Arndt was the first to die, and was buried 
beneath the old " Dutch Meeting House'' in Lincolnton. 

Rev. Loretz, until his life's end, labored faithfully 
in the Holy Cause, seeming to have no object in view 
but to do his Master's bidding. Besides ministering 
to his own people, he made frequent visits to Rowan 
and Guilford Counties and to Lexington District, 
South Carolina, in three, four or six months as the 
exigencies of such a life determined, for the purpose of 
catechizing, preaching, baptizing the children, to 
administer the Lord's Supper and to perform all the 
offices that are included in a pastor's work. He was 
greatly beloved in all the churches and his visits were 
looked forward to with anticipations of great enjoy- 
ment. He was of the most genial disposition and 
abounded in pleasantries, so that he soon made him- 
self at home wherever he went, and could enter into 
the wants and interests of the people to whose service 
he had devoted his life. For these almost Herculean 
labors he was providentially endowed with great 
powers of physical endurance. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 259 



He was an educated man of commanding genius, 
endowed with fine abilities and used the German lan- 
guage with great fluency and power, while he was also 
an excellent French scholar and able to use the Latin 
freely. He was famous wherever he preached as an 
orator. On the death of Washington he delivered an 
address at Lincolnton suitable to the occasion which 
was brilliant, pathetic, chaste and appropriate, and 
was highly commended by the press of the day as one 
of the greatest efforts ever made in that region. This 
address was published in pamphlet form. 

Members of his churches spoke in glowing terms of 
his fascinating eloquence, comparing him to a living 
fountain whence a torrent of words streamed forth 
almost spontaneously. He had gathered for that age 
and a new country quite a fine library of valuable 
theological works, which, however, after his death 
was sold in an unappreciative community for a trifle 
and scattered to be lost. 

Tradition regards him as having been a man of 
prayer. Those who knew him in the Loretz family 
circle and at the sick-bed, in the house of mourning, 
yet speak of his tenderness and of the unction of his 
prayers as most thrilling and comforting. It was his 
custom to have worship with the families with whom 
he visited on his out-lying trips, and those who remem- 
bered him testified that his equal in prayer they had 
not heard since that day. On one of his trips to 
Guilford County he was asked to visit a dying man, 
named Crill, and had prayer with him. One, Graves, 
was present and heard it, who was not a good man, but 



260 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



afterwards speaking of the prayer remarked: "Dieser 
betet man meint Gott musset von Himmel kommen." 

Owing to the fact that his pastoral labors extended 
over a region of country some two hundred and fifty 
miles in extent, and that, too, in an age when roads 
were often next to impassible, and traveling exceedingly 
difficult and even dangerous, all his long journeys, 
from Haw River in North Carolina to the Saluda in 
South Carolina, were made on horseback. He was an 
excellent horseman, and it is well known that he always 
kept two black saddle horses for use on his long and 
wearisome rides. He has often been known to ride 
seventy-five miles to meet an appointment. He was 
deeply versed in Scripture. On one occasion there 
being no Bible in the church in which he was to preach 
he was at no loss for his text and references. 

He showed a great fondness for dress, as his polished 
silver knee buckles, silk stockings and spotless linen 
bore witness. An anecdote is told of him, that in 
one of his congregations an economic old German 
once complained that the parson's salary was much 
too large, as it admitted of a display of dress which 
he deemed unnecessary in a minister, when the 
clergyman quietly remarked that the money came 
not from his congregation but from South Carolina, 
showing that his tedious rides to that distant section 
were deemed well worthy of liberal compensation. 
Rev. Loretz was noted for strict accuracy and method 
in keeping his church registers of baptisms, confirma- 
tions, etc. 

His extensive labors and his frequent exposures cut 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 261 



off his grand life too soon for the churches, for he died 
at his home at the early age of fifty-one years. It 
was on a quiet Sunday evening, March 31, 1812, after 
having spent the morning in preaching to his congrega- 
tion at St. Paul's, riding fifteen miles home to die that 
evening, as he had predicted he would. He left a wife 
and seven young children. Among his children were 
three sons whom he fondly hoped to rear and edu- 
cate for the higher walks of life. One of these sons 
represented old Lincoln County in the House of 
Commons for three successive terms. Rev. Loretz's 
wife survived him twenty years. There being no 
other minister of the Reformed Church west of the 
Catawba River at that time, his funeral sermon was 
preached by Rev. Paul Henkel, a Lutheran minister. 
His grave is not far from the entrance of the grave- 
yard, and is marked by a plain stone, with the record 
of his death and age, followed by those sublime words 
of Paul in 2d Timothy 4:7, 8, and closing with the 
following poetic verses : 

" Here rests the Lord's apostle in the dust, 

Till time's last wheel shall turn, and stop, and break, 
Then shall he rise and live among the just, 
And with his flock, the joys of heaven partake." 

In the month of January, 1905, Mrs. Caroline R. 
Cochran (nee Motz), of Commonwealth Avenue, Bos- 
ton, Mass., a granddaughter of Rev. Loretz, presented 
the congregation with a beautiful bronze tablet, 22 by 
24 inches in size. It is secured to the wall with bronze 
screws, directly behind and above the pulpit. The 
following is the inscription: 



262 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



In Memory of the 
Reverend Andrew Loretz, 
Born in Chur, Switzerland, 
1761. 

Died in Lincoln Co., North 
Carolina, March 31, 1812. 
Founder and Pastor of this 
Church from 1786 until 1812. 



I have fought a good fight, 
I have finished my course, 
I have kept the faith. 

At the bottom of the tablet is a beautiful design of 
intertwined leaves of the palm and olive. 

Rev. Samuel Weyberg came to Lincoln County in 
1793 or 1794, where he married and remained several 
years, acting as assistant to Rev. Loretz, laboring in 
the churches of Burke, Lincoln, Rowan and Cabarrus 
Counties, during which time he had several students 
under his care, one of whom was George Boger, who 
later finished under Loretz. 

After the death of Rev. Loretz there was no regular 
Reformed pastor for a period of sixteen years. Dur- 
ing this time the churches were occasionally visited 
by ministers sent out by the church North. Of these 
we have mention of Revs. James Ross Reily, Jacob 
Scholl, John S. Ebaugh, John Rudy and W. C. Bennet. 

The next pastor was Rev. John G. Fritchey, who 
came in the spring of 1828 and continued pastor of 
this and all the Reformed churches west of the Catawba 
River for the next twelve years, to 1840. 

Rev. G. A. Leopold from 1S40 to 1841. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 263 



Rev. John Hobart Crawford, a native of Maryland, 
a classmate of Rev. Fritchey, who induced him to 
come South. His wife was Miss Maria E. Spotswood, 
of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, whom he married in 1829. 
Rev. Crawford was pastor of Daniel's from 1841 to 
1842. 

Rev. Solomon S. Middlekauff was the next pastor. 
He was born in 1818 near Hagerstown, Maryland, and 
was a graduate of Marshall College, Mercersburg, 
Pennsylvania, class of 1839. Spent three years in the 
Theological Seminary at the same place. Was or- 
dained and installed as pastor in August, 1842, in the 
"Old White Church" at Lincolnton. The Elders at 
this date were Samuel Lantz, Daniel Loretz, Maxwell 
Warlick and John Motz. Rev. Middlekauff continued 
pastor until his death of consumption at Mineral 
Springs, Catawba County, North Carolina, May 21 T 
1845, in the twenty-seventh year of his age. His re- 
mains repose in the "Old White Church" cemetery 
in Lincolnton. He married Miss Mary A. E., daughter 
of Jacob Ramsaur, who, after her husband's death, 
was married by Rev. David Crooks to Rev. Thornton 
Butler on the third of September, 1850. She now lies 
buried by the side of her first husband. Rev. Middle- 
kauff was a man of mild and peaceful spirit and en- 
joyed in an eminent degree the confidence of his 
people. 

Rev. David Crooks from February, 1846, to January, 
24, 1859. 

Rev. Jeremiah Ingold from 1859 to 1874. 
Rev. Julius Shuford from 1874 to 1876. 



264 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., and Rev. John A. Foil, from 
1876 to 1878. 

Rev. Julius Shuford from 1878 to 1880. 

Rev. A. S. Vaughn from 1880 to 1883. 

Rev. A. P. Horn from October, 1883, to July, 1884. 

Rev. G. Dickie Gurley from July, 1884, to July, 1885. 

Rev. J. L. Murphy from July, 1885, to November, 
1890. 

Student C. A. Starr from November, 1890, to Sep- 
tember 20, 1891. 

Rev. J. M. L. Lyerly from 1892 to 1893. 

Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., from June 24, 1894, to June 
13, 1897. 

Rev. Theodore C. Hesson from June 13, 1897, to 
June 25, 1902. 

Rev. C. B. Heller from October 19, 1902, to October 
1, 1906. 

Classis met twice at Daniel's: 

1866— Rev. J. W. Cecil, President. 

1902— Rev. W. H. McNairy, President. 

The family names now appearing on the church 
roll at Daniel's are as follows: 

Warlick, Ramsaur, Leonard, Coon (Kuhn), Hoover, 
Abernethy, Smith, Rhodes, Miller, Adderholt, Lantz, 
Cline, Willis, Reep, Motz, Seagle and Carpenter. 

3. Grace Reformed Church, Catawba County. 

Few congregations in the Reformed Church in North 
Carolina are richer in history than Grace Reformed 
Church, and few have less records from which a cor- 
rect history can be written. Services were held in 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 265 



this community prior to the establishment of the 
congregation, and the tradition is that these services 
were held in a large double bam during the summer, 
and in private houses during the winter months. In 
the year 1796 a meeting was held in the neighborhood 
to consider the propriety of building a house for public 
worship, and on January 11, 1797, a deed for a tract 
of land containing a fraction over three acres was 
executed by Samuel E. Jarrett to John Yoder and 
John Huffman for the purpose of building a house of 
worship thereon, the consideration being eight dollars. 

The community united in erecting a log structure 
thirty feet long, twenty-five feet wide and two stories 
high. The building of a church in those days was an 
undertaking of great interest to the community, and 
it is said that the building was two years in being 
completed. This was built as a union church by the 
Reformed and Lutheran denominations, and is held 
as such to-day. Dr. Welker in his sketch of the Re- 
formed Churches in the Colonial Records says of 
Grace that "it was for many years the most prosper- 
ous and intelligent Reformed congregation in the 
State." 

In the ancient "God's Acre" hard by lie the remains 
of many of the prominent men of the South Fork 
valley. Here we find the head-stone marking the 
grave of John Yoder, son of Conrad Yoder, who was 
the first white child born on the waters of Jacob's 
Fork River, in 1764. He volunteered in the American 
army at the age of sixteen years, which was either in 
1780 or 1781. He was a surveyor and served as 



266 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



deputy county survej^or for many years, was a militia 
captain for a long time and an Elder in the Reformed 
Church until his death. Here too rests the body of 
his brother David, who was the third white child born 
on the same waters, in 1767. He was the oldest man 
buried in this cemetery, nearly 93 years old. Here 
also lies the body of Daniel Conrad, who used to rep- 
resent Lincoln County in the State Legislature, and 
was also an Elder in the Reformed Church. 

Daniel Conrad was a man of tenderest sympathy for 
the wayward. It is told to-day how he would plead for 
an erring brother, and how, through his intercessions, 
some who came to be the most faithful were saved. 
Here also rests the body of Daniel B. Whitener, who 
was a soldier in the war of 1812 under Gen. Jackson. 
Here also rests the body of George P. Shuford, who for 
many years was a magistrate, and also served many 
years as chairman of the county court. Also E. P. 
Coulter, who was the first register of deeds for Catawba 
County, and also was a magistrate and an Elder in the 
Reformed Church. 

In the absence of any records the early history of 
this congregation cannot be written. It was doubtless 
organized by the Rev. Andrew Loretz, who lived near 
Daniel's Church, five miles southeast of Grace, and 
was the pastor of all the Reformed Churches in this 
part of the State. After the death of Loretz, which 
occurred in 1812, it is probable that the Rev. James 
Ross Reily, who came South in 1813, preached for 
these people for a short time. Many of the Reformed 
congregations in Xorth Carolina at this period of the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 267 

history of the church were without the regular minis- 
trations of the Word, and this was doubtless true of 
Grace. Col. G. M. Yoder in a sketch of the congrega- 
tion says: " Between the years of 1820 and 1825 the 
Rev. Mr. Bell, a Presbyterian minister, was called," 
from which we infer that the Rev. Mr. Bell was the 
pastor during these years. 

A conspicuous character among the pastors of Grace 
Church was Rev. John G. Fritchey, who was licensed 
and ordained as a missionary in the year 1828, and 
intended to settle in the West, but was directed by the 
Rev. F. A. Rahauser to come to North Carolina. The 
coming of Mr. Fritchey marked an epoch in the con- 
gregations of the Reformed Church in North Carolina 
west of the Catawba River. The earliest records we 
have of Grace congregation are of a meeting of the 
Consistory held June 5, 1831, and Mr. Fritchey was 
then their pastor. He was a bold and fearless preacher, 
preaching his convictions on all questions, and was 
ever ready to defend his doctrines. It is related by 
Elder F. D. Reinhardt that Michael Rudisill (Luth- 
eran) would stand at his gate watching for Fritchey 
to come along, and that they would sometimes argue 
for an hour, making Fritchey almost too late for his 
appointment. It is related also that these men were 
the best of friends. It was during Rev. Fritchey's 
pastorate that the trouble arose over the question of 
admitting the colored people into the church during 
services. As this caused a division in the congrega- 
tion, we believe it well to copy from the records. The 
minutes of February 10, 1838: " After prayer by Rev. 



268 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

J. G. Fritchey the object of the meeting was made 
known by the chairman. A communication from 
John Coulter (one of the Elders of the congregation) 
was received and read. After which the discipline of 
the German Reformed Church was read in the audi- 
ence of the meeting. A communication from Elias 
Jarrett (Lutheran), one of the Trustees of the church, 
was received and read. 

" Resolved, that the vote of the meeting be taken 
upon the question, whether people of color should be 
admitted into the church at times of public worship, 
when the German Reformed congregation meets for 
that purpose, or not. The vote was taken as follows : 
Those voting in favor of admitting were: Barbara 
Coulter, Ann Shuford, Sarah E. Shuford, Harriet 
Ramsaur, Philip Shuford, Jesse Whitener, Henry F. 
Ramsaur, Daniel Conrad and David Ramsaur. Those 
opposing were: Solomon Shuford, Lavina Yoder, John 
A. Yoder, John Yoder and David Yoder, Sr. After 
the vote was taken the following resolution was 
adopted, viz. : that the blacks be allowed to occupy the 
two back seats on the gallery fronting the pulpit, when- 
ever they are admitted, and that they shall not be 
allowed to go in until the whites are all seated, and 
then if there is sufficient room, they are to be invited 
in by one of the officers, and to remain there in their 
place until the whites have gone out of the church." 
This was the rock of offence which split the congrega- 
tion, and which has been held against the Reformed 
people of Grace. We submit it to the enlightened 
consciences of the present time and ask if the action 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 269 

of the Reformed people was not the mark of kindness 
which distinguished the masters of slaves of that 
period ? 

The Rev. Mr. Fritchey closed his eventful pastorate 
in the year 1840 and returned to Pennsylvania. He 
was succeeded by the Rev. John H. Crawford, who 
continued to serve the charge until August 27, 1853, 
when he resigned to accept work in Virginia. Those 
persons who remember Rev. Crawford speak of him 
with the highest admiration as a man of firm char- 
acter and sterling worth. The late Judge M. L. Mc- 
Corkle always contended that Rev. Mr. Crawford had 
not received just recognition at the hands of the 
Church; that he should have been honored with the 
degree of D.D. 

About the year 1848 the territory between St. 
Paul's and Grace was divided, making the public road 
leading from Hickory to Lincolnton the dividing line. 
Several families living within the territory allotted to 
Grace held their membership at St. Paul's and had 
worshiped at that place, but like obedient children of 
the Church they at once transferred their membership 
to Grace. Prominent among these was the Coulter 
family. One of these, Martin Coulter, was an Elder. 
He was a man faithful in business and devoted to his 
church. It was his habit on Saturday to make all 
necessary preparations for the coming Lord's Day. 
Early Sunday morning he went to church with his 
German hymn book in his hand, and the German 
Bible under his arm. He entered the church, took his 
seat and spent the time until the service began in quiet 



270 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

meditation. He often led the congregation in prayer 
to edification. In his time the services usually lasted 
all day. In the morning a Sunday School service was 
held. George P. Shuford and John Coulter usually 
superintended the Sunday School. The Sunday 
School was followed by a sermon, this by a short recess 
and another sermon. The people in those days did 
not grow weary in the service of worship. 

The church was vacant until 1856, when Rev. Jere- 
miah Ingold became pastor and entered upon his 
duties. 

On August 8, 1856, a meeting was held by the mem- 
bers of the Reformed and Lutheran congregations to 
consult upon the propriety and expediency of build- 
ing a new church edifice. The following resolution 
was passed : " Resolved, that we will build a new church 
edifice and that it shall be a union church between the 
Lutheran and German Reformed congregations, pro- 
vided each party pays one-half of the cost and that 
we raise the sum of twelve hundred dollars by sub- 
scriptions and donations." Rev. J. Ingold was ap- 
pointed agent, and he was asked to appoint an agent 
on the part of the Lutherans to solicit subscriptions 
and donations. The building was completed and 
was dedicated on the 13th of June, 1857, and is the 
present brick structure in which the congregations 
have worshiped these many years. 

The cost was $1,400.00. It is said that the Rev. 
G. W. Welker inspired the congregation to erect a new 
building. He was preaching in the old log building, 
standing in the little high pulpit goblet shaped, gal- 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 271 



leries on three sides, the logs conspicuous, when in his 
emphatic way he said : "Let me not come to this place 
again until you have a new building." The dedication 
services were union, and two sermons were preached. 
The Rev. Polycarp C. Henkel, D.D., preached the ser- 
mon in the morning for the Lutherans and selected 
2 Corinthians 3: 18 as his text, and it is said preached 
for three hours. It is also said that this was one of 
his strongest sermons. Rev. G. W. Welker, D.D., 
preached the sermon in the afternoon for the Reformed 
congregation, selecting as his text Genesis 28: 17. This 
sermon made a profound impression and is remembered 
by the older people to-day and they love to talk about 
it. This church was greatly improved in the year 
1905. Besides those mentioned above, the following 
have served as pastors : Rev. Jeremiah Ingold resigned 
September 13, 1873, which was to be effective in the 
coming November. Rev. Julius H. Shuford, 1874- 
1876; Revs. J. C. Clapp and J. A. Foil (supply), 1876- 
1877; Rev. Julius H. Shuford, 1878-1879; Rev. A. S. 
Vaughn, 1881-1883; Rev. A. P. Horn, 1883-1884; 
Rev. G. D. Gurley, 1884-1885; Rev. Lewis Reiter, 
1885-1890; Rev. Joseph L. Murphy, 1890-1903 Rev. 
J. C. Clapp, D.D. (supply), 1903-1905; Rev. Joseph 
L. Murphy (supply), part of 1905; Rev. Samuel W. 
Beck entered upon his pastorate October 1, 1906. 

The official membership of Grace has been marked 
by the intelligence, piety and faithfulness of the men 
who have served as Elders and Deacons. It is to be 
regretted that a full record containing the names of 
all the faithful men who have served this congregation 



272 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

with the terms of their office is not at hand. It is 
feared that we shall omit many and it may be some of 
the most faithful. The following is the list as we have 
been able to gather it: John Coulter, Daniel Conrad, 
David Ramsaur, Philip Shuford, Solomon Warlick, 
George P. Shuford, Solomon Ramsaur, H. F. Ramsaur, 
Henry Reinhardt, Peter Finger, E. P. Coulter, El- 
kanah F. Ramsaur, P. W. Whitener, S. T. Wilfong, 
Q. A. Wilfong, W. P. Dellinger, D. F. McGill, John 
Reinhardt, J. M. Clampitt, R. 0. Ramsaur, R. L. Shu- 
ford, A. C. Shuford, L. R. Whitener, G. S. Wilfong and 
Walter Reinhardt. 

The efficiency of the eldership and their faithfulness 
to duty may be seen from the following action of the 
Consistory taken relative to holding public worship: 
" Resolved, that we will hold public worship on the 
fourth Sabbath of each month, and when no minister 
can be secured the Elders shall conduct the services, 
and that it be the duty of Brothers George P. Shuford 
and H. F. Ramsaur and John Coulter to superintend 
these meetings." 

Thus it will be seen that these good people fully 
realized the importance of the office of Elder. These 
good brethren were ruling Elders in the true sense of 
the term, for at a certain time we find them passing 
resolutions instructing the pastor relative to refusing 
to conduct funerals when these conflicted with the 
regular services. The Consistory of Grace laid great 
emphasis upon the piety of the membership and be- 
fore receiving a member that person must give evidence 
of " experimental religion." 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 273 



On the 30th day of October, 1897, the Lutheran 
and Reformed congregations united in celebrating the 
centennial of the organization of the congregation. 
Revs. R. A. Yoder and J. L. Murphy were pastors 
respectively of the Lutheran and Reformed congre- 
gations and arranged the programme for the occasion. 
Rev. P. M. Trexler, D.D., delivered an address on the 
Swiss Reformation, and Rev. Prof. W. P. Cline spoke 
on the German Reformation. Rev. J. L. Murphy 
spoke on the Classis of North Carolina and Rev. R. A. 
Yoder delivered an address on the Tennessee Synod. 

As a union church the congregations worshiping at 
that place united in the Sunday School work. The 
first union school was organized May 8, 1831, and con- 
tinued until a few years ago, when the Lutherans with- 
drew and organized a denominational school. Since 
that time there have been two schools conducted in 
the same building. In the main, however, the rela- 
tion existing between the two congregations has been 
most pleasant and these people have demonstrated to 
the world the beauty of brethren dwelling together in 
unity. 

4. Emanuel's Reformed Church (the 11 Old White 
Church"), Lincolnton. 

This church was in Lincolnton, in old Lincoln 
County of Revolutionary fame. A large part of this 
county was settled as early as 1745-50, when the Ger- 
mans found Pennsylvania too straight for them and 
turned their faces to a sunnier and more fertile clime. 
In the vicinity of this county town were found the 



274 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



Hokes, Reinhardts, Summeys, Fingers, Shufords, 
Anthonys, Ramsaurs, Summerrows and others, who 
united with their Lutheran neighbors and built a church 
in the town of Lincolnton. 

On December 14, 1785, General Joseph Dickson 
entered for the citizens of Lincoln County the tract 
of land on which the town of Lincolnton stands, con- 
sisting of 300 acres of vacant land, and the town was 
laid ofif in lots in 1786. The same year the first court 
house was built and was constructed of logs. During 
the sessions of the court held in Lincolnton, in the old 
log court house, a man named Thomas Perkins, or 
Thomas Hawkditch, was killed by falling from one of 
the open windows. As there was no vacant space 
within the corporation for the purpose of burial, the 
body was taken south of the court house, and buried 
within a short distance of the corporation limits. 
When the Lutherans and Reformed desired to build a 
church, the question arose where to put it. The place 
wmere this man was buried was suggested as being 
central and convenient, and accordingly was selected 
as the site for the church and afterwards became the 
cemetery of the old "White Church." 

On January 10, 1788, " Joseph Dickson, Proprietor 
in Trust for the citizens of Lincoln County, in consid- 
eration of ten shillings," deeded "two acres and six- 
teen poles in the South East Square of the town of 
Lincolnton to Christian Reinhardt, agent for the 
' Dutch Presbyterians/ and Andrew Heedick, agent 
for the 'Dutch Lutherans/ in a part of which the 
Dutch Meeting House for Public Worship now stands." 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 275 

The land was purchased "for the purpose of building 
thereon a Meeting House for Public Worship, School 
Houses, both Dutch and English, and for a place for 
the burial of the dead, and the said societies have at 
their joint expense already built an house for Public 
Worship on the premises, and the said societies not 
having been incorporated, are desirous that the lands 
hereby intended to be conveyed should be vested in 
fee simple in the said Trustees, Christian Reinhardt 
and Andrew Heedick and their heirs and assigns for- 
ever in Trust for the uses in this deed declared, and the 
said Societies have signified the same to the said 
Joseph Dickson and requested him to convey accord- 
ingly the lands hereby intended to be conveyed." 
This deed for the church was drawn and witnessed by 
Waightstill Avery, Esq. The " Dutch Meeting House " 
mentioned in the deed was a small one-story log 
building, and the nails used in its construction were 
hand-forged. The Dutch and English school houses 
mentioned in the deed were never erected. In 1819 
the old log church was raised a story higher, the south, 
east corner of which was " carried up" or fitted by 
Philip Cansler and Adam Reep. It was weather- 
boarded, ceiled and a new pulpit built. The pulpit 
was high and was reached by a stairway from either 
side, overspread with a sounding board. The pews 
were high backed, and there were wide, spreading 
galleries. Col. John Hoke was at that time Treasurer 
of the church and his final settlement shows the cost 
to have been $573.06. At that time there was a school 
taught in the church by a Mr. Quinn, and we find this 



276 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

entry on the subscription list for the church: " School 
boys paid first money of all, $2. 12 J." The carpenter 
work was done by Daniel Shuford. In 1827 a bell was 
purchased. The church was painted white in 1830, 
from which circumstance it was ever after called "The 
White Church." There is a voucher of that date filed 
for $175.00 for painting and repairs. 

The first ministers to serve this church were Rev. 
Arndt for the Lutherans and Rev. Andrew Loretz for 
the Reformed. Both these men were instrumental in 
having the church built. 

For reference to Arndt in this connection see letter 
on church history and schools on the Dutch Side by 
Gen. Barringer. The oldest record dates from 1794. 
At that date, the title page informs us, Johan Gottfried 
Arndt was the pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran 
congregation, and Rev. Andrew Loretz of the Reformed 
congregation, which at that time seems to have been 
synonymous with Dutch Presbyterians. The first 
entry made is the baptism of Anna Maria Hoch (now 
Hoke) June 7, 1794. 

After the death of Rev. Loretz, the Presbyterians 
of the Concord Presbytery seem to have occupied the 
church jointly with the Lutherans, and were organized 
under the pastoral care of Rev. Dr. Humphrey Hunter, 
a patriot and soldier of the Revolutionary War, who 
often preached in the old " White Church" from 1796 
until his death in 1827. The members of the Re- 
formed Church became enrolled as Presbyterians 
under Rev. Bell, who was pastor from 1819 to 1825. 
The record book of the Presbyterians dates from 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 277 



February, 1823. Rev. Patrick J. Sparrow was pastor 
of the Presbyterians from 1827 to 1833. During his 
pastorate the title to the property was taken into the 
courts by Rev. Fritchey and adjudicated to belong to 
the Lutheran and Reformed Churches. 

For sixteen years the Reformed had no regular pas- 
tor, from the death of Loretz in 1812 to the coming of 
Fritchey in 1828, and in consequence of the proselyting 
agency of Rev. Bell the congregation became so dis- 
tracted that it never recovered its former vitality. 
Rev. Fritchey was pastor from 1828 to 1840. From 
the fourth Sunday of June, 1839, the Presbyterians 
held no more services in the " White Church." 

The Reformed congregation continued its organiza- 
tion under the pastorate of Rev. J. H. Crawford from 
1840 to 1842. Rev. Solomon S. Middlekauff from 
August, 1842, to May 21, 1845. His early death was 
a great loss to this church which never recovered from 
this stroke. Rev. David Crooks from February, 1846, 
to January 24, 1859, when they became so reduced in 
number that they ceased to have regular service, and 
at a meeting of Classis at Daniel's in 1866, it is men- 
tioned as a matter of regret that "the congregation at 
Lincolnton, one of the oldest and most flourishing in 
the bounds of the Classis, has become destitute of 
regular pastoral care." 

We see it stated by a certain writer that in 1873 the 
church was used only by the Baptists, lately organized 
under the pastoral care of Rev. Needham B. Cobb. 

Not only was the church used by the Reformed, 
Lutheran and Presbyterian congregations as we have 



278 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

seen, but also by the Methodists, Episcopalians and 
Baptists, who all in turn formed organizations and 
worshiped there until able to erect their own houses 
of worship. 

During the year 1882 Rev. J. A. Foil, Ph.D., served 
the congregation as missionar}^ with a small appro- 
priation from the Board of Home Missions. From 
July, 1885, to November, 1890, it was served once a 
month by Rev. J. L. Murphy, then pastor of the Lin- 
coln Charge and residing at Maiden. 

On the night of December 23, 1893, at 8 p. m., the 
"Old White Church," one of the oldest landmarks in 
the town of Lincolnton, was destroyed by fire. As the 
flames got under full headway the old logs of the struc- 
ture seemed to stand out individually and plainly 
silhouetted against the sky, and swaying slowly to and 
fro, moved by the current generated by the fire, the 
old bell tolled out a mournful protest, until it too fell 
with the crashing timbers. Thus was blotted out a 
building with which all the religious history of the 
vicinity was associated, and strange to say, some of the 
political. All the different denominations have wor- 
shiped within its walls, and its galleries have resounded 
to the oratory of Ried and Manly, Dockery the elder, 
and Bragg and other gubernatorial aspirants. 

The North Carolina Classis met in this church in 
1853, Rev. Jeremiah Ingold, President. 

5. Salem Reformed ( Union) Church, Lincoln County. 

The original founders of Salem Church were: John 
Ramsaur, Henry Ramsaur, Jacob Killian, Anthony 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 279 



Hallman, Henry Cressamore, Jonas Rudisill, Henry 
Gross, Jonas Heedick, David Carpenter and John 
Cline. Three of these were Reformed, namely, John 
Ramsaur, Henry Ramsaur and David Carpenter. 

The first church building was a house made of logs, 
but when built we have no means of knowing, for there 
are no records preserved prior to 1814. The oldest 
inscription found in the cemetery is that on the monu- 
ment of Antoine Hes or Has, born 1762; died Decem- 
ber 25, A. D. 1792. He was school teacher and chor- 
ister as we learn by tradition. On another, Mrs. Moore, 
1802. Norris, infant, 1802. Henry Cressamore, 1803. 

On the title page of the old minute book is a record 
of a meeting of the citizens of Salem, August 29, 1814, 
to form a confederation or agreement as follows: 
"Whereas, it is proposed to repair the old meeting 
house known by the name of Salem so as to render it 
commodious for the place of Divine worship — to be free 
to all Christian denominations or worshipers, for any 
and every Christian minister of any denomination 
whatever, who may be properly authorized by and in 
good fellowship with the religious society to which he 
may belong, who may from time to time appoint to 
preach in said meeting house, we subscribers do 
hereby promise to pay to Col. John Reinhardt, Capt. 
Henry Ramsaur or Mr. Joshua Wilson (who are to act 
as commissioners to superintend the work) the several 
sums annexed to our names to aid and assist in repair- 
ing the aforesaid house for the aforesaid purpose. The 
money to be paid whenever the commissioners may 
call for it." 



280 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



This action was made necessary by reason of the 
building being in a terribly dilapidated condition and 
in no wise fit or pleasant to hold any Divine service in 
it, and very uncomfortable. For some time previous 
service had been held at Jacob Killian's, and also while 
the church was being repaired. It seems that the 
church was in such bad condition as to indicate that 
some of the logs were rotten, for we find an item in the 
bill for repairs which reads: "Paid the two John Freys 
for hewing logs for the Meeting House, $4.25." The 
fact that the church was old and dilapidated in 1814 
proves conclusively that here on this hallowed spot 
was a church, school-house and graveyard dating from 
the coming of the oldest settlers. 

The whole cost of repairs and re-furnishing was 
$338.94. Of this amount the Reformed paid fully 
one hundred dollars. Mr. Jacob Killian contributed 
three Spanish doubloons. At the time the repairs 
were made the land upon which stood the school-house 
and church with the cemetery attached comprised two 
acres and thirty-two poles. This was owned by Jacob 
Killian, who on July 19, 1815, deeded the same to the 
Commissioners "for the purpose of encouraging schools 
and a place for public worship.' 7 

In 1863 Henry Killian, of York District, State of 
South Carolina, for the sum of one dollar 
deeded three roods and twenty-five perches to John 
Coulter, Absalom Brown and Jacob Ramsaur, Trustees 
of Salem, "for the purpose of encouraging Christianity 
and increasing the area of the cemetery." 

On October 22, 1903, another tract of land was 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 281 



added, containing 148 poles, and deeded by A. M. Lutz 
and wife J. L. Lutz, to Ambrose Costner, H. F. Mc- 
Caslin and Charles Ramsaur, Trustees of Salem Church. 
Consideration, five dollars. 

On September 26, 1835, there was a meeting of the 
citizens of Salem to consider a proposition made "to 
build an addition to said house for the accommodation 
of people of color on days of public worship." It was 
decided to build and a committee of five was appointed 
to form a plan and to estimate the cost. 

The committee reported as follows: "The addition 
to be put to the pulpit end of the Meeting House, 
thirteen feet wide, with a shed roof, one-story high; 
to have four 12-light windows, one outside door, and 
from the body of the house into the addition to be 
finished off in a plain manner, and that three logs be- 
hind the pulpit are to be cut out as far as the opening 
of the gallery." 

The committee consisted of John Killian, John Car- 
penter, Jacob Killian, Philip Rudisill and James 
Summerrow. Total cost of the addition was $69.85, 
shared about equally by both denominations. 

On April 15, 1848, a meeting of the members of the 
congregations was called to consult on the propriety 
of repairing the old house or building a new one. Since 
the church was a free church, built for the use of any 
who might choose to occupy it, and as the land was 
the common property of all who chose to make use 
of it, some of the Lutherans determined to build a 
house for their exclusive use, and notice was given to 
all who had any claims to present them that the Luth- 



282 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



erans might build as they desired. On the day ap- 
pointed for the meeting of the congregations Jacob 
Killian, John Coulter, Jacob Heedick and Ambrose 
Costner were the only ones present, in addition to the 
Lutheran minister, Rev. J. R. Peterson. During the 
discussion Jacob Killian expressed himself in favor of 
a union church, because his father had given the land 
for that purpose and heretofore that had been the course 
pursued. John Coulter, Secretary, expressed himself 
in like manner. He said the Reformed had no congre- 
gation, and might not have, but on account of funerals, 
as some Reformed families buried their dead at Salem, 
he would like their interest to be continued. He 
stated that as they had other churches convenient it 
would not be needed for regular use. Jacob Heedick 
and Ambrose Costner were also both in favor of a 
union church. The argument of these brethren pre- 
vailed and it was decided to build a union church. 
William McCaslin, Jacob Ramsaur (M. W.), David 
Heedick, John Coulter and John Heedick were ap- 
pointed the building committee. This committee met 
at the house of John Coulter on April 29, 1848, and re- 
solved to build a union church of brick to belong to 
and be the property of the Lutheran and the German 
Reformed denominations of Christians. The size of 
the house was to be 35 feet by 45 and 13 feet high in 
the clear; two doors and eight windows 18 lights to 
be not less than 10 by 12 inches, and covered with 
good heart pine shingles. Jacob Ramsaur (M. W.), 
William McCaslin and David Heedick were appointed 
the commissioners to superintend the construction, 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 283 

and it was ordered that they be allowed a reasonable 
sum for the services they may render in attending to 
the necessary business respecting the building. The 
church was finished and dedicated in 1849 to the use 
of the Lutheran and German Reformed Churches, 
Rev. David Crooks preaching the dedication sermon. 
The whole amount expended in the construction and 
furnishing of the building was $628.39. In addition 
to money subscriptions, the following Reformed mem- 
bers contributed services and materials: John Coulter 
assisted John Heedick in making part of the brick; 
Jacob R,amsaur (M. W.) furnished some pine trees and 
David Ramsaur sawed them into lumber; Andrew L. 
Ramsaur furnished the doorsills. The church is a 
substantial brick building situated in Lincoln County, 
on an eminence about two miles west of Clark's Creek 
on the public road leading from Lincolnton to Newton, 
and is set about forty feet north of the old building, 
with doors in the south end of the building. 

On July 10, 1875, some of the members met and 
decided to put a new roof on the church of good pine- 
land shingles and to make the roof project so as to 
conform to the modern style of buildings. The shut- 
ters, windows and doors were to be repaired and painted 
on the outside. And the boxing to the roof was to be 
painted. A committee of four was appointed, consist- 
ing of Noah Summerrow and William Ramsaur of the 
Reformed and Abel Seagle and Hosea Yount of the 
Lutherans. The amount of $284.37 was collected 
and expended on the repairs. 

On the 18th day of July, 1896, the Lutheran and 



284 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

Reformed congregations met at Salem to celebrate the 
one hundredth anniversary of the building of the 
original church, it having been built, re-built and again 
re-built as a union church. The following ministers 
were present: Rev. Prof. R. A. Yoder, pastor of the 
Lutheran congregation in said church; Rev. Prof. J. C. 
Clapp, D.D., pastor of the Reformed congregation in 
said church; Rev. Prof. J. C. Moser, Rev. Prof. W. P. 
Cline, Lutheran, and Rev. Prof. J. L. Murphy, Re- 
formed. The pastors with all the visiting brethren 
made interesting addresses on the subjects of church 
work, education and all similar topics. Ambrose Cost- 
ner, Esq., Lutheran, was the historian appointed for 
the occasion and proved to the satisfaction of all pres- 
ent that Salem Church had been used as a place of 
public worship for more than one hundred years. At 
the conclusion of the services the people repaired to the 
grove and enjoyed a bountiful picnic dinner, the best 
feature of which was the kind, brotherly and social 
feeling which pervaded the entire multitude. 

So far as known no Reformed minister preached at 
Salem regularly until after the building of the new 
church in 1849. During the pastorate of Rev. D. 
Crooks at Matthew's he preached occasionally at Sa- 
lem. From his time up to the present the pastors who 
have served Matthew's have served Salem. The Re- 
formed congregation was regularly organized in 1874 
with 21 members who were transferred from St. Mat- 
thew's. Revs. J. C. Clapp and J. A. Foil were jointly 
serving this and other churches at the time. The 
present membership numbers fifty, a small band, but 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 285 

always loyal and faithful, prompt to meet all their 
obligations, and regular in their attendance upon the 
services of the sanctuary. The present members of 
the Consistory are: Elders, Theodore J. Ramsaur, 
John C. Warlick and Charles E. Ramsaur; Deacons, 
George W. Ramsaur and Jacob C. Ramsaur. Charles 
E. Ramsaur represents the Reformed as Trustee. 
North Carolina Classis met in this church in 1881, 
Rev. M. L. Hedrick, President. 

6. St. John's Reformed Church, Catawba County. 

About 1812, when the first house of worship at St. 
Paul's gave place to the one still standing, that part of 
the Reformed and Lutheran congregations which lived 
in the bend of the Catawba River, and at an inconveni- 
ent distance, erected for themselves a commodious log 
building about six miles northeast of the mother 
church. The logs were quite large and were hauled 
a long distance. Hitherto many of the worshipers 
walked nine miles to preaching at St. Paul's. As this 
is the date of the death of Loretz, there doubtless were 
only occasional services at St. John's until 1828, when 
Rev. John G. Fritchey became pastor of all the Re- 
formed congregations west of the Catawba. A copy 
of the record of baptisms and confirmations and other 
official acts by Father Fritchey indicates that St. 
John's was in a growing and prosperous condition 
during the twelve years of his pastorate. He was 
succeeded in 1840 by Rev. John H. Crawford, who 
served the congregation about twelve years. Then 
Rev. Albert, first President of Catawba College, had 



286 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



charge for about one year, about 1853. Rev. John 
Lantz then began a pastorate that lasted about thirteen 
years, when Rev. J. C. Clapp began to supply the 
Catawba Charge, consisting of Grace church in New- 
ton, St. John's and Smyrna, St. Paul's being reorgan- 
ized and added in 1874. In the service of these con- 
gregations he continued more than thirty years. 
During this period new houses of worship were built at 
Smyrna, Newton, St. John's and Conover. And also 
the Reformed congregation at Salem was organized 
in 1874. In the meanwhile Rev. J. A. Foil, a student 
at Catawba College, finished his course at Ursinus 
College and Seminary, and in conjunction with Rev. 
J. C. Clapp for a few years served all the churches 
west of the Catawba River, and several in Rowan 
County. But to return to St. John's, Rev. H. A. M. 
Holshouser was installed pastor of the Catawba 
Charge in 1894. Rev. C. H. Riedesel in 1897. Rev. 
Henry Sechler in 1901. Rev. Samuel W. Beck in 
1903. Rev. Milton Whitener in 1906. These were all 
young men, and with the exception of Riedesel, this 
was their first charge. During the first sixteen years 
of the existence of the congregation at St. John's 
there must have been very little service by Reformed 
ministers. But doubtless the children were baptized, 
and possibly catechized and confirmed by ministers of 
the North Carolina Synod of the Lutheran Church, 
for the two denominations were on terms of delightful 
fellowship. They communed together, frequently 
intermarried and scarcely recognized any difference. 
The Hunsicker family has contributed more to the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 287 

membership of St. John's than any other. Theobold 
Hunsicker brought his certificate of baptism from the 
Reformed Church in Germany, settled on Lile's Creek 
in (now) Catawba County, and reared fifteen children. 
These have, with their offspring, increased to a multi- 
tude. By the diligent research of Jonas Hunsicker, 
Esq., a great-grandson of Theobold, the genealogy of 
the family is being traced to the present time. O, 
that all these now living may be loyal to the faith of 
their great ancestor! 

Peter Rowe (Rauch) was an Elder in the early his- 
tory of the congregation. He reared a large family. 
These and their children have been officers and sub- 
stantial members. One, Rev. W. W. Rowe, is a promi- 
nent young minister in the Classis of North Carolina. 
Others have risen to distinction in civil and military 
life. The Hermans have been prominent members of 
this congregation. Caleb Herman, Esq., and Elder 
Noah Rowe with their families have been for years 
leading spirits and most devoted and constant workers. 
Limited space precludes the mention of many other 
worthy names. 

7. Smyrna Reformed Church, Catawba County. 

This congregation was organized in 1832 by Rev. 
John G. Fritchey, and was partly an offshoot of St. 
Paul's. The first Elders were John J. Shuford, Nathan- 
iel Edwards and Jacob Lantz. J. J. Shuford and Isaac 
Douglas jointly donated eleven acres for the church. 
A commodious log house was erected. It was weather- 
boarded but was never ceiled. It is still standing but 



288 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



is superseded by a comfortable frame building that 
was erected during the pastorate of Dr. J. C. Clapp. 
The congregation was moved to undertake the work 
by Mrs. Catharine Hartman, a daughter of Jacob 
Lantz, who, after the service one Sabbath and unso- 
licited, came forward and laid $50.00 upon the altar, 
saying, "this is for a new church." This inspired the 
congregation. Trees were felled, logs were hauled to 
the mill near by; neighbors of the Methodist Church 
helped, and in a few months a neat and comfortable 
building was completed and ready for dedication, 
clear of debt. The congregation has never been large 
and is thirteen miles from the nearest Reformed 
Church, but it has been a faithful fold with many of 
the purest and noblest characters to be found any- 
where. Of late years the Edwards family have con- 
stituted the larger part of the membership. Rev. 
Fritchey was pastor until 1840. Then Crawford, 
Crooks, Middlekauff and Lantz served in turn until 
1866. Here Dr. J. C. Clapp began his ministry, and 
for these forty years has made monthly pilgrimages 
to these dear homes and this beloved Zion, interrupted 
only by the short pastorates of Holshouser, Riedesel, 
Sechler and Beck, each of which continued only one 
or a few years. 

9. St. Matthew's Reformed Church, Lincoln County. 

St. Matthew's Reformed Church is situated in Lin- 
coln County, on the Island Ford Road, six miles north- 
east of Lincolnton and two miles southeast of Maiden 
in Catawba County. It was organized May 3, 1837, 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 289 

by Rev. John G. Fritchey from members of the "Old 
White Church" in Lincolnton. The time for the or- 
ganization was opportune. The place was suitable, 
because it was at least six miles distant from any 
other Reformed congregation, and was surrounded by 
many confirmed members of the Reformed Church. 
The persons who were the original members were men 
and women of influence. 

On May 22, 1836, a meeting of the citizens and 
members of the German Reformed Church in the 
neighborhood was held at the dwelling house of Michael 
Finger, for the purpose of consulting upon the pro- 
priety of building a "Meeting House." A sermon 
was preached by Rev. John G. Fritchey; John Coulter 
was called to the chair and Benjamin Norris appointed 
Secretary. After mature deliberation it was agreed 
to build a church on the road leading from Lincolnton 
to the "Island Ford" on land which John Ramsaur 
(Tanner) agreed to give "for the purpose of erecting 
a house thereon for the worship of Almighty God." 
It was resolved to build a house thereon one story high, 
forty feet long and thirty feet wide. John Ramsaur 
and John Coulter were appointed Trustees, and in 
addition, Joseph Finger, John Blackburn and Jacob 
Summerrow were selected as a committee to take sub- 
scriptions, collect and disburse the money. David R. 
Bennick was also appointed Secretary for the congre- 
gation. 

On July 23, 1836, a meeting was held at the house of 
Mr. Joseph Finger by the building committee. It was 
unanimously agreed that the building of the church 



290 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



be advertised and let to the lowest bidder, on the 
thirteenth of August, 1836, at the six-mile post above 
Daniel Shrum's on the " Island Ford Road." Mr. 
Joseph Finger gave the lowest bid and entered into a 
contract to build the church for $265.00. The total 
amount subscribed was $232.00. Additional funds 
were afterwards raised to finish paying Joseph Finger 
and to plaster the building. The church was lathed 
and plastered in 1838. John Ramsaur, for a nominal 
consideration (perhaps fifty cents), made on the third 
day of June, 1836, to the Trustees a deed for five acres 
of land. On the next day he made to them a lease 
for 199 years for the spring near the church. At a 
later period Daniel Finger bought this spring and 
deeded it to the church. The following were elected 
the first Elders: John Carpenter, Jacob Ramsaur 
(M. W.), John Ramsaur and Daniel Finger. They 
were ordained and installed May 20, 1837, Revs. 
Fritchey, Crawford and Rankin being present. This 
was a meeting of three days beginning on the 19th. 
On the 21st the church was dedicated. The Rev. 
J. H. Crawford preached the sermon from 1st Kings, 
8th chapter, latter clause of the 63d verse: "So the 
king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house 
of the Lord." 

May 3, 1837, a sermon was preached by the Rev. 
John G. Fritchey. After the sermon the names of 
those members wishing to become members were en- 
rolled as follows: John Ramsaur (Tanner), John Car- 
penter, Daniel Finger (Tanner), Anthony Icherd 
Daniel Summerrow, Jr., Daniel Shrum, Michael Finger 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 291 

Peter Summerrow, Michael Summerrow, Nancy Finger, 
Rachel Finger, Susan Ramsaur, Mary Shrum, Susan 
Finger, Margaret Summerrow, Rebecca K. Summerrow, 
Sarah Finger (Hinson), Sarah Summerrow, Rebecca 
Bolick, David R. Bennick, Wiley Hallman, Jacob 
Summerrow, Joseph Finger, Henry Summerrow, 
James N. Summerrow, Jacob Ramsaur (M. W.), Am- 
brose Bolick, Elisha Saunders, Mary Ann Bennick, 
Elizabeth Carpenter, Mary Carpenter, Widow Eliza- 
beth Finger, Catharine Shrum, Barbara Hallman, Ann 
Icherd, Barbara Summerrow, Elizabeth Finger (Rein- 
hardt), Elizabeth Carpenter, Elmira Summerrow, Mrs. 
Mary Rudisill, Mrs. Saunders, Mrs. Louisa Goodson, 
Mrs. Nancy Boyd, Mrs. Nancy Murphy, Rev. David 
Crooks, Mrs. Catharine Crooks, Solomon Rudisill. Of 
these members, the latter lived farthest from the 
church, a distance of nine miles. Notwithstanding this 
for more than fifty-eight years he was faithful in regular 
attendance upon the preached word. On June 3, 1838, 
one year after the organization, Rev. Fritchey con- 
firmed the following: John Shrum, Peter Shrum, Sarah 
Summerrow, Mary Ann Summerrow, Sarah Carpenter, 
Susan Summerrow, Levi Shrum, Levi Carpenter, 
Frances Hallman, Lavina Carpenter, Sarah Finger, 
Mary Summerrow, Nancy Shrum. Of this first class 
only one, Levi Shrum, is living at this date, April 5, 
1907. He lives within sight of the church and is its 
oldest member. 

The first funeral at St. Matthew's was that of a 
little daughter of John and Mary Carpenter. The 
church was not yet weather-boarded nor the floor laid, 



292 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



so that the minister, Rev. Fritchey, was obliged to 
stand on one of the sills to preach. 

On the 9th of September, 1838, John Ramsaur con- 
veyed to the Trustees 25 acres, consideration fifty dol- 
lars, for the purpose of a cemetery and camp-meeting 
ground, including Matthew's Church. 

An institution of great interest to the community 
and surrounding country for many miles was the camp- 
meeting held annually at St. Matthew's for a period 
of thirty-five years, now called " protracted meet- 
ings." These meetings were held under a brush 
arbor until 1845, when a large frame arbor with hip- 
roof was constructed, James Summerrow and Joseph 
Finger doing the work of construction, and Henry 
Whitener being the architect. Every year there 
came great numbers of Reformed people from Catawba 
and Lincoln Counties to this place. With these an- 
nual gatherings there are associated many hallowed 
memories. There under the spacious arbor were heard 
the voices of many of God's faithful ministers preach- 
ing the acceptable year of the Lord. There, too, many 
were brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ 
and made profession of their faith. The blessed mem- 
ories of those faithful ones living and dead bind many 
to the arbor at St. Matthew's with ties that naught 
but death can sever. Not only all the churches in 
this section closed their doors on the Sunday over 
which the camp-meeting was held, but the faculty and 
students of Catawba College attended, and we have 
been told that the sainted F. D. Reinhardt used to 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 293 



take his four-horse wagon and convey the students to 
this place. 

In 1840 the Classis of North Carolina passed this 
resolution: "That a camp-meeting shall be held at 
Matthew's Church, commencing on Friday previous 
to the third Sabbath in August next, and it shall be 
the duty of all ministerial brethren to attend said 
camp-meeting." This arrangement served to develop 
an "esprit du corps" in ministers and people and 
bound them more closely together in love and service 
for the Master. The camp-meeting services here held 
were remarkable for good order and religious devotion. 
When the signal was given for public services, every 
one went to the arbor without stopping to enquire 
who was to preach. 

Not only were the people who habitually worshiped 
in the church and the crowds that assembled under 
this arbor noted for their orderly worship and conduct 
during public service and while on these grounds, but 
the whole neighborhood was one celebrated for its 
obedience to the civil law. Since the camp-meetings 
were discontinued, protracted meetings are held an- 
nually, embracing the first Sunday in September. 
These are reminders to the old people of the camp- 
meetings. A few extracts from the records of the 
camp-meetings may be read with interest: "The first 
camp-meeting held at Matthew's Church was on Au- 
gust 15, 1839. Present, Messrs. Leopold, Fritchey, 
Crawford, Crooks and J. Lantz. Sunday the Lord's 
Supper was administered. Collection, $28.75; fifteen 
dollars was taken to defray the expenses of the meet- 



294 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



ing; the balance was paid Mr. Leopold for the educa- 
tion of young men for the ministry. Meeting closed on 
Monday. Two persons received as members, Eliza- 
beth Carpenter and David Ramsaur." 

"The second camp-meeting commenced on Friday, 
August 28, 1840, by Crooks, Crawford, Lantz and Rev. 
Crowell, a Methodist minister. On Sunday the Lord's 
Supper was administered to about two hundred com- 
municants. Collection, $21.75. Twenty-one dollars 
was paid to John Ramsaur (T.) for land purchased of 
him for the use of the camp, and seventy-five cents to 
Daniel Finger for communion wine. Closed on Mon- 
day. Martin Carpenter and Frances Shuford received 
as members." 

"The fourth camp-meeting commenced on Friday, 
July 29, 1842, by Messrs. Crawford, Lantz, Welker and 
MiddlekaufT. The number joining the church was 
seventeen." 

"The fifth camp-meeting commenced Friday, the 
28th July, 1843, by Messrs. Crawford, Lantz and 
MiddlekaufT. On the Sabbath the Lord's Supper was 
administered to a great number of communicants. 
Collection on Saturday, $15.70; 37^ cents was paid 
Daniel Finger for communion expenses; $4.50 paid to 
Rev. S. S. Middlekauff towards his travelling expenses 
to this place. Six persons joined the church. Meeting 
closed Monday at 12 o'clock." 

It was at Matthew's camp-meeting ground in 1850 
in John Coulter's tent during a meeting of the "Loretz 
Beneficiary Society" that the establishment of a liter- 
ary institution was suggested. While the members of 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 295 

the Society were discussing the subject, M. L. Mc- 
Corkle, Esq., afterwards Judge McCorkle, proposed 
that we take steps to establish in our midst an institu- 
tion to educate our young people as far as possible. 
It was not long after this that Catawba College was 
founded as a result of this meeting, which has done so 
much for our people and church. And still further, 
the Sunday School was established here at an early 
day, which was attended by almost all of the members, 
old and young, as well as by the children. It was a 
strong support of the church. 

Nearby stood a rude log school house built the year 
before the church was erected, in which John Killian, 
Harvey Robinson, Valentine Mauney, Jacob Lantz, 
John H. Roberts, David R. Whitener and John H. 
Robinson exercised the office of teacher before the 
public school was removed to Piney Grove. In this 
school house the ministers who attended camp-meetings 
were lodged. It is worthy of note that this church 
was the mother of both Salem and Maiden congrega- 
tions. Quite a number of its members have gone to 
the Newton congregation, two of the most prominent 
being Major Sidney M. Finger, for several terms one 
of the best Superintendents of Public Instruction the 
State of North Carolina ever had, and Col. H. A. 
Forney, for many years the efficient Treasurer of 
North Carolina Classis, and a descendant of the For-- 
neys of the Eastern part of Lincoln County who are 
given prominent mention by Wheeler in his History 
of North Carolina. 

Colored people were admitted to membership in St. 



296 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



Matthew's Church. How many of these there were 
we have no means of knowing. There is a minute in 
the old church book dated June 24, 1837, which reads 
as follows: " Resolved, that the colored people occupy 
the two back seats at the end of the house, one on each 
side of the entrance as often or as long as the Consistory 
may think proper." During slave times a small arbor 
was constructed near the one occupied by the white 
people in which the colored people sat at the camp- 
meetings. 

Rev. John G. Fritchey organized St. Matthew's and 
was pastor from 1837 to 1840. To his ministration is 
due much of the steadfastness of the fathers and moth- 
ers of our church in this section. Verily he did 
" strengthen the things that remain." Rev. Fritchey 
was a most devoted defender of the doctrines of the 
Reformed Church as taught in the Heidelberg Cate- 
chism. At the time, 1828, when he came to this 
section there was a great need of just such a man as 
he was. The members of the Reformed Church having 
been sixteen years without a pastor, or any person of 
their faith to preach to them except an occasional 
sermon by some one sent by Synod on a short mission, 
strong efforts were made to get them to join other 
denominations. Rev. Fritchey was so devoted to the 
doctrines of the Reformed Church and so well informed 
on these as well as the doctrines of other denomina- 
tions, that he could easily defend them. This he de- 
lighted to do and did in season and out of season. 
Rev. Fritchey lived in Lincolnton and while there con- 
ducted an Academy for some time during his pastorate. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 297 

Rev. G. A. Leopold supplied the congregation for a 
short time in 1840. He was a native of Lincoln 
County and served an apprenticeship to a tailor in 
Lincolnton. Rev. Frit chey writes : " He studied under 
David Henkel, a Lutheran minister; preached a ser- 
mon of Fiske's on Universalism on a week night in our 
church soon after I came to Lincolnton. I was present 
and expressed my disapprobation to some of our people 
who were present. He heard of it and came to my 
room one night after I had vetoed his doctrine from 
the pulpit, and pretended to call me to account. In 
the interview and discussion he was completely foiled, 
and before he left I knelt down with him and prayed 
for him. He appeared to be very penitent, and in a 
few days came to my room and made application to 
join our church with a view of studying for the min- 
istry. The brethren thought we ought to encourage 
him and furnished him with a horse and means to go 
to our Seminary at Carlisle, Pa. Dr. Mayer had con- 
siderable trouble with him while he was under his care 
which was, I think, three years. He was licensed and 
ordained by the Classis of Maryland and labored for 
several years as a missionary in that State, when I 
invited him to Carolina and divided my charge with 
him." 

There is no record that Rev. John H. Crawford 
preached regularly at St. Matthew's, but he admin- 
istered the rite of baptism from January, 1841, to 
August, 1842. He frequently preached here during 
this time. He was a strong, broad-minded man, 
always heartily welcomed at St. Matthew's. 



298 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



Rev. S. S. Middlekauff was pastor from August, 
1842, to May 21, 1845. In his short ministry he did 
much to unify and build up his congregations. When 
his remains were brought home to be interred at Lin- 
colnton, in the midst of his people, the large concourse 
which gathered weeping around his grave bore testi- 
mony to his faithfulness to them and of their love for 
him. He was much esteemed by the ministers of the 
Classis among whom his brief ministerial life had been 
spent; had he lived, we have no doubt he would have 
preserved and strengthened the Reformed congrega- 
tion in Lincolnton. His ministration did much to 
strengthen St. Matthew's congregation, every member 
of which loved him. 

July 13, 1845, a call was extended to Rev. David 
Crooks as follows: "We the undersigned, representa- 
tives of the Lincolnton Charge of the German Re- 
formed congregations in the counties of Lincoln and 
Catawba, composed of the congregations at Daniel's, 
Smyrna, Lincolnton and Matthew's, having confidence 
in your qualifications as a minister of the Cross, and 
believing that you by the grace of God are capable of 
taking charge of said congregations as pastor, we, 
therefore, by these presents call you to take charge of 
said congregations as pastor. And that you may be 
free from the cares of the world, and that you may be 
enabled to devote your time and attention to the 
ministry, we promise to give you annually the sum of 
three hundred and sixty dollars in current money, 
twenty bushels of wheat, fifty bushels of corn, hay and 
fodder for one horse and cow; also a house rent free 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 299 

together with out-buildings, and pasture for the above, 
for your service and labors in the bounds of the above- 
named charge. " 

Rev. Crooks came to Matthew's from Davidson 
County, N. C, where he had labored about seven years. 
He was pastor of Matthew's until his death, on Janu- 
ary 24, 1859, nearly fourteen years, and is the only one 
of the faithful men who ministered to St. Matthew's 
congregation whose remains lie buried with its departed 
dead. As a preacher he was wonderfully plain and 
direct and brief in his sermons. He diligently watched 
over his flock and reproved wrong everywhere, and 
lived what he preached. He possessed the rare talent 
of saying much in few words, and of coming directly to 
the point. If at any time he unintentionally, by his 
plain and direct preaching, wounded the feelings of 
any person, he was ever ready to ask forgiveness, as 
he was himself ready to forgive others. 

Rev. John Lantz was a son of Mr. Jacob Lantz, and 
was born near Daniel's Reformed Church, in Lincoln 
County, N. C, in May, 1811. His mother's family 
name was Hoke, a prominent family in North Caro- 
lina. He was baptized in infancy, and early instructed 
in the doctrines of the Christian religion as embodied 
in the Heidelberg Catechism, his father being for a 
number of years an active Elder in Daniel's Reformed 
Church. At the proper age he attended a course of 
catechetical instruction under Rev. John G. Fritchey, 
and manifesting a practical knowledge of the doctrines 
of the Christian religion in which he had been trained 
he applied for admission to the full privilege of church 



3C0 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

membership, and was accordingly confirmed along 
with twenty-three others on the 30th of May, 1829. 
His admission to the full communion of the church 
was among the fruits of the first year's labors of Mr. 
Fritchey in North Carolina, in which time seventy- 
four persons were added to the three congregations to 
which he then ministered. 

Rev. Fritchey wrote Rev. S. R. Fisher concerning 
Mr. Lantz: " Though young when he was confirmed, 
he adorned his profession by a holy walk and conver- 
sation. It seems from his course during the four sub- 
sequent years that he felt himself called to the office 
of the Gospel ministry. His father consulted me, and 
after an interview with his son, I encouraged him to go 
forward and devote himself thoroughly to the work 
of the Lord, he having received an ordinary English 
education, and reading and speaking also the German 
language. He subsequently came to my house and 
remained under my private instruction for two years. 
At the close of this period he repaired to the Theological 
Seminary at York, Pa." 

In the fall of 1835 he entered the Theological Semi- 
nary. He remained there during the prescribed theo- 
logical course which then covered only two years. 
At the close of his Seminary course he was licensed by 
the Synod of the Reformed Church in the United 
States, which convened in Sunbury, Pa., in Septem- 
ber, 1837. He returned to North Carolina, and 
shortly after, having received a call from the East 
Rowan Charge in Rowan County, he was ordained to 
the holy ministry by the North Carolina Classis in 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 301 



1838. He labored in this charge during a period of 
fifteen years. He then removed to Newton, Catawba 
County, N. C, at which place he resided and labored 
for sixteen years. 

Rev. Lantz was pastor at Matthew's from the death 
of Rev. Crooks in 1859 until 1868, at which time he 
removed to Augusta County, Virginia, where con- 
tinuing four years, he accepted a call from the charge 
at Taneytown, Carroll County, Md., in which field he 
closed his labors, having been there only ten months. 
His death took place on Sunday evening the 26th of 
January, 1873, in the 62d year of his age. He had 
been confined to the house for several weeks by in- 
flamatory rheumatism, to which other forms of dis- 
ease were successively added, culminating in his death. 
He was called away in the midst of very encouraging 
prospects of usefulness. He retained his intellectual 
facuKies to the last, and died strong in the Christian 
faith which he had labored to preach to others. His 
remains were interred in the cemetery attached to 
the Reformed Church in Taneytown. An appropriate 
sermon was preached by the Rev. John M. Titzel, 
based on 2 Tim. 1: 10. 

Rev. Lantz was a well-equipped man, and had what 
he knew at his tongue's end, and consequently he was 
a ready man. He seemed to need but little time for 
preparation to preach an acceptable sermon. It was 
his delight to preach and he never refused unless he 
was ill. His sermons were never written out, but he 
always had notes or outlines before him. Some of 
these notes were models of exegesis and sound theol- 



302 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



ogy, for his teachers, Drs. Mayer and Rauch, were of 
the best. His most striking characteristic was Chris- 
tian humility. He was as gentle as a girl and to the 
end of his life would blush like a girl in any embarras- 
sing situation or if any indelicate remark was made in 
his presence. He had to fight a natural timidity all 
his life, usually rose to speak with some slight em- 
barrassment, used the conversational style of preach- 
ing, becoming more hortatory as he reached the ex- 
hortation with which he always closed. Rich and 
poor were alike to him, and it was often said that he 
never had an enemy in his life. Everyone loved him 
for his genuine worth, and everyone was ready to say: 
" There is a good man and one in whom there is no 
guile." 

The ministers since his time will be briefly mentioned. 
Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., was supply from 1868 to 1873. 
Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., and John A. Foil, Ph.D., from 
1873 to 1881. Rev. Foil was then pastor from 1881 to 
1885. Rev. J. L. Murphy from July, 1885, to Novem- 
ber, 1890. Student C. A. Starr from November, 1890, 
to September 20, 1891, when he died from injuries 
received in a wreck on the Chester and Lenoir Narrow 
Gauge Railroad. Rev. J. M. L. Lyerly from 1892 to 

1893. Rev. Foil then acted as supply until June 24, 

1894, when Rev. J. C. Clapp was installed in Salem 
Reformed Church, Revs. Smith and Foil, of Newton, 
conducting the service. Dr. Clapp served until June, 
1897. Rev. Theodore C. Hesson from June 13, 1897, 
until June 25, 1902. Rev. Calvin Boyd Heller from 
October 19, 1902, to October 1, 1906. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 303 

The annual sessions of North Carolina Classis were 
held twice in St. Matthew's Church as follows: 1840, 
Rev. John Lantz, President. In 1845, Rev. Jeremiah 
Ingold, President. As a fitting close to this history 
of Matthew's congregation, we mention the fact that 
Hiram Jacob Crooks, son of Rev. David Crooks of 
blessed memory, has served as Elder for thirty-three 
years. 

9. Grace Reformed Church, Newton. 

Catawba County was formed in the year 1845, and 
the town of Newton was made the capital. At that 
time the town was but a straggling village. St. Paul's, 
St. John's and Grace Reformed Churches were strong 
congregations located in the country nearby. A few 
members were living in the village and as soon as their 
town became a county-seat they began to think about 
the importance of building there a Reformed Church. 
Rev. J. H. Crawford was pastor of the above-named 
country congregations, together with Lile's Creek. 
Before the organization of a congregation plans were 
inaugurated to build a house of worship. A lot was 
at once secured, and before the close of the year 1846 
the church was ready for use, though not finished. It 
was for years called "The White Church," and for 
some time was the only church in the town of Newton. 

There are no definite records stating the time when 
the congregation was organized. Classis held its an- 
nual sessions in the Newton Church in 1849, but the 
statistics of that year do not show a congregation at 
that place. In 1850 the statistics show a new charge 



304 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

called the " Newton Charge," consisting of four con- 
gregations. These four congregations evidently were 
the following: St. Paul's, St. John's, Lile's Creek and 
Newton. Bethel Church had been organized and 
incorporated with Grace Church into the " Catawba 
Charge." Rev. J. H. Crawford was the pastor of the 
latter charge, and the Newton Charge was vacant. 
It is to be presumed that the congregation in Newton 
was organized during the Classical year 1849-1850, by 
Rev. J. H. Crawford under the name of Grace Reformed 
Church. Mr. Crawford was the moving spirit in the 
building of the church. Here he preached statedly 
several years before the congregation was organized 
and also after it was organized. In 1852 Rev. C. H. 
Albert became the pastor. Daniel Rowe (Rauch) and 
Abel Ikerd were the first Elders. Their successors 
have been Reuben Setzer, F. D. Reinhardt, Joseph 
Reinhardt, M. L. McCorkle, S. M. Finger, J. C. Clapp, 
W. H. Williams, D. F. Moose, H. A. Forney and others. 
The Deacons have been Moses Fry, D. F. Moose, W. H. 
Williams, J. F. Smyre, D. L. Rowe and others. 

The church in its early history was not only used 
as a house of worship, but also as a home for Catawba 
College. In this old church Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., 
Rev. John Smith, Rev. Mr. Stirewalt, Major S. M. 
Finger and a host of other well-known men gained 
their first knowledge of Latin. In this building the 
first commencement of the College was held and here 
was aroused the impulse to education in Catawba and 
adjoining counties. Here Stephen White delivered 
his great temperance lectures which shook all the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 305 

country and was the means of beginning the great 
temperance reformation in this part of the State. 

The first pastor, Rev. John H. Crawford, was a man 
of strong intellect, and with a mind well stored in all 
useful learning. He instructed his parishioners not 
only in the Word of God, but in all the improvements 
of the day. He was always ready to lead his flock in 
building up the church, in temperance, in Sunday 
Schools, in Missionary Societies — Home and Foreign — 
in school and education. He was a warm friend of 
Catawba College, and was the first President of the 
Board of Trustees. He was not often eloquent in his 
sermons, but sometimes he would rise above himself, 
and electrify his audience by the boldness and grandeur 
of his speech. He was never fully appreciated until 
he was called away. He returned to his old field of 
labor in 1863. His visit to the churches was an ova- 
tion. He preached in the "Old White Church" above 
mentioned and the good people of all denominations 
were his auditors. Unasked they made him a hand- 
some donation to bear his expenses and to show some 
little appreciation of his worth. He was married in 
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to Miss Maria Spots wood. She 
came with him to North Carolina and was a faithful 
co-worker in the church. She lived a most exemplary 
life in her walk and conversation. She was a pattern 
of excellence, modest, gentle, neat, not gaudy, and 
beloved by all who knew her. After the death of her 
husband, she moved to the town of Wadesboro, N. C, 
and made her home with one of her nieces until she 
died. She always loved the church of her fathers. In 



306 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



that faith she lived and in that faith she died. Rev. 
and Mrs. Crawford lived and died childless. 

Rev. C. H. Albert remained pastor only one year, 
1852-1853. He was succeeded by Rev. John Lantz, 
who supplied the church one year, 1853-1854. Mr. 
Lantz became the regular pastor in 1855 and served 
until 1860, when he was succeeded by Rev. A. S. 
Vaughn. Mr. Vaughn was pastor one year, 1860-1861. 
After a short vacancy, Rev. John Lantz again became 
pastor, and this pastorate continued until 1868. 
Licentiate J. C. Clapp supplied the church 1868-1869. 
In 1869 Prof. Clapp was ordained and installed pastor 
of the church. He remained pastor until 1890, when 
he resigned in order to give his entire time and ener- 
gies to Catawba College of which he was President. 
Dr. Clapp had the assistance of Rev. J. A. Foil in 1875- 
1876; of Rev. G. D. Gurley in 1882-1883, and of Rev. 
J. F. Hartzell in 1884-1885. 

In October, 1883, the annual meeting of the Synod 
of the Potomac was held in Grace Church. Both the 
members of the congregation, Classis and Synod 
looked forward to the meeting with a great deal of 
interest. There is no doubt that this meeting left a 
deep impression on the congregation, and many of the 
members still cherish the names of the ministers and 
elders whom they entertained. 

In February, 1886, the congregation decided to 
build a new and more modern house of worship, and 
Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., Col. W. H. Williams and D. F. 
Moose were appointed the building committee. The 
congregation entered enthusiastically upon this work; 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 307 

sufficient pledges were secured to assure success in the 
undertaking. In 1887 the corner-stone of the present 
elegant brick church was laid, Rev. G. W. Welker, 
D.D., preaching the sermon. It was completed and 
dedicated in 1888, Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., preaching 
the sermon. 

The building of the new church was the last and 
most important work which Dr. Clapp rendered to 
the congregation, for in April, 1890, he tendered his 
resignation. That his ministry was a faithful and 
fruitful one is attested by the lives and characters of 
those who claim him as their spiritual father. But it 
was impossible to successfully carry on both the work 
of Catawba College, of which he was President, and 
the pastorate of a growing congregation, and on this 
account he surrendered the pastorate. For two years 
after the resignation of their pastor the church was 
without the services of a regular pastor, but services 
were held as often as opportunity afforded. During 
this interim, the congregation determined to become 
an independent charge. The town of Newton was 
growing and it was felt that the congregation could 
make greater progress if it had the undivided time of 
the pastor, and an overture was sent to Classis re- 
questing a division of the charge. The request was 
granted, and in 1892 Grace congregation, formerly a 
part of the Catawba Charge, was constituted a charge 
by itself, the only one at that time in the Classis. It 
has since this time had the entire time of its pastors. 

In 1892 a call was extended to Licentiate A. H. 
Smith. He accepted the call and was ordained and 



308 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



installed October 9th. During Mr. Smith's pastorate 
a parsonage was built at a cost of $1,600. A handsome 
bell was presented to the church by Mr. Solomon 
Shrum. The bell in the old church belonged to Rev. 
Dr. J. C. Clapp and was by him presented to the new 
Trinity Church of Conover. Mr. Smith resigned in 
August, 1897. In September a call was extended to 
Rev. W. A. Long, Ph.D. Dr. Long entered upon the 
pastorate in November, 1897, and remained until May 
1, 1901. 

Rev. W. H. Stubblebine, Ph.D., succeeded Dr. Long 
in July, 1901. During Dr. Stubblebine's pastorate 
the congregation installed a pipe organ. A short time 
before her death Mrs. Sarah Finger placed in the 
church a handsome window in memory of her husband, 
Major S. M. Finger. The Ladies' Aid Society also 
placed a stained glass window in the church. The 
pastorate of Dr. Stubblebine closed in November, 
1903. 

In June, 1904, a call was extended to Rev. Charles 
E. Wehler, and the work of the congregation has con- 
tinued with unabated zeal. The congregation under 
the leadership of pastor Wehler entered upon the 
work of improving the church property. The par- 
sonage was thoroughly renovated. All the rooms were 
papered and the outside of the building painted. The 
outside of the church also was painted, the inside walls 
frescoed, the ceiling and wood-work painted and grained 
in golden oak, a velvet brussels carpet put upon the 
entire floor space of the church, a hot-air heating plant 
was installed and two beautiful electroliers put in the 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 309 



church. Concrete walks were put down along the 
entire church and parsonage property. In addition to 
these improvements there were put into the church 
seven art windows as follows: Plockhorst's "Christ 
Blessing the Children/ 7 by the Sunday School; Hoff- 
man's "Boy Christ/' by Mr. E. P. Shrum, a memorial 
to his deceased son; a representation of "Paul on Mars 
Hill," a memorial by the Matthew Locke McCorkle 
family; Raphael's "Sistine Madonna," by the Ladies' 
Aid Society; Plockhorst's "Good Shepherd," a me- 
morial to the late Deacon D. F. Moose, by his family; 
a beautiful representation of "Christ Crowning Mary," 
by Col. W. H. Williams, in loving memory of his de- 
ceased wife and children; and a monogram window in 
Munich style of art glass work, by the Christian En- 
deavor Society. All these improvements were made 
with perfect harmony, and the congregation is now 
laying plans for the enlargement of the church and 
the building of a Sunday School room. 

The faculty and students of Catawba College make 
a valuable addition to the congregation, and give it 
special importance. This is the principal institution 
of the Reformed Church south of Pennsylvania. The 
Classis of North Carolina justly expects this congrega- 
tion to furnish a spiritual home for the students, and 
to bestow upon them its fostering care, safe-guarding 
them against all pernicious influences, and leading 
them to the highest type of Christian manhood and 
womanhood. 



310 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

10. Friendship Reformed Church, Alexander County. 

The Reformed Church in North Carolina has failed 
to enter many communities in which there was a Re- 
formed constituency, and in some cases after entering 
a community and establishing congregations has suf- 
fered these organizations to disband for want of pas- 
toral care. This was the case in Caldwell, now Alex- 
ander County. It is evident that many of the early 
settlers in this county were adherents to the Reformed 
and Lutheran Churches. Rev. A. L. Crouse (Luth- 
eran) in his Historical Sketches says: "A large pro- 
portion, if not a majority, of the Germans who settled 
in Alexander County belonged to what was then the 
German Reformed Church. These were the Richards, 
Hermans, Rowes, Benfields, Kellers, Prices and some 
say the Wittenbergers." Some of these at least must 
have crossed the Catawba River and worshiped with 
the congregations in Catawba County. The Lutherans 
established Friendship Church in the year 1833 and it 
is highly probable that the Reformed people held 
occasional services at this place. The Reformed peo- 
ple organized a congregation in this county in the year 
1844, but it has been difficult to obtain much correct 
information concerning it. The following found on 
the first page of a little book belonging to the late Rev. 
Jeremiah Ingold, D.D., is about all the record that we 
have been enabled to find relating to this congrega- 
tion : 

" Ecclesiastical Memorandum. 
"Commencing on the third Sabbath in May, 1844. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 311 

I was ordained on the 4th of April at the Brick Church, 
Guilford County. Took charge of the congregation at 
Friendship, Caldwell County. Preached my intro- 
ductory sermon on the 3d Sunday of May. The con- 
gregation had been organized about two months pre- 
vious by Rev. J. H. Crawford. Mr. Plassman and 
myself were present." 

"Fourteenth of September, 1844, laid the corner- 
stone of a new church. Rev. J. H. Crawford preached. 
I resigned my congregation in Caldwell County on the 
3d Sabbath in October, 1845, and removed to Henry 
Sechler's Mineral Springs in Rowan County on Octo- 
ber 23d." 

On another page we find the following entry: 

" Catechumens in Caldwell Charge: 

"John Price, Jonas Miller, Clement Head, Elizabeth 
Rauch, Margaret Price, Catharine Miller, Marcus Har- 
mon, Wilson Price, West Bradburn, Rachael M. Brad- 
burn, Susan Miller, Sarah Miller and Christina Keller." 

The following entries of baptism are made: 

"On April 5, 1845, at the stand in Caldwell County, 
John Dallas Alexander, son of Joseph and Malinda 
Rowe; Absalom Andrew, son of Absalom and Anna 
Price; Andrew Alexander, son of Charles and Jane 
Benfield; Sarah Jane, daughter of Conrad and Cath- 
arine Benfield." Other entries of baptisms are made 
and each time it is stated "At the Stand in Caldwell 
County." 

Under the head of funerals is the following: 
"August 17, 1845, Mr. George Benfield at the Stand 
in Caldwell County." It will be noted that the name 



312 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



Friendship is used in the above. Rev. Mr. Crouse 
tells us that he has satisfactory evidence that the 
name of the congregation was Hopewell. He has this 
from some old people who are still living (1905), and 
he thinks that two churches bearing the same name 
would hardly have been so close together. He thinks 
that the Reformed people worshiped in the Friendship 
Lutheran Church before erecting a church of their 
own and this accounts for the confusion of names. 
The church was built on the Price place, near the road 
leading from Oxford Ford to All Healing Springs and 
about four miles from the road. The building was 
never finished and had no window sash nor shutters 
and no doors. No deed for the land was ever made 
by Mr. Price. After the building was abandoned as a 
place of worship, Mr. G. P. Rowan bought the farm, 
tore down the building and used the timbers in the 
construction of a barn. The only thing which now marks 
the spot where these people once worshiped is a grave- 
yard. There are twenty-four graves marked by noth- 
ing but common stones, which of course have no inscrip- 
tion. We would like to know more of this people. 
The members have scattered and gone into other com- 
munities. The Reformed Church in Alexander County 
is known only in history. 

11. Bethel Reformed Church, Catawba County. 

Bethel Church is on the South Fork of the Catawba 
River, about seven miles south of Hickory. It is first 
reported in the minutes of North Carolina Classis in 
1849. It was organized by Rev. J. H. Crawford. It 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 313 

is in the region where Henry Weidner, the South Fork 
pioneer, located his grant of land. Here the Weidners, 
Robinsons, Wilfongs still maintain the ancient Re- 
formed faith. The records of this congregation were 
never kept, or if they were kept, have been misplaced 
or entirely lost. The congregation had its origin in 
the desire of members of Grace Church who lived in 
the Forks of the river, between Henry's Fork and 
Jacob's Fork, to have preaching nearer home. To 
accommodate this desire the Rev. John H. Crawford, 
then pastor of Grace Church, established a preaching 
point at Minerva school-house, which at that time was 
located at the cross-roads near the homestead of the 
late Jacob Shuford. Services were held here on Sun- 
day afternoons, the minister having preached at 
Grace in the morning. A meeting was held sometime 
about 1847, for the purpose of considering the pro- 
priety of building a house of worship. One who was 
present, while not remembering the date, remembers 
that the meeting was held in the woods, and while the 
congregation was there that it began to snow exceed- 
ingly fast. From this fact, the place for a while was 
called "Snow Hill." The organization must have 
been effected about 1847-1848, as it is reported in the 
minutes of Classis in 1849. We find that three chil- 
dren were baptized in 1848, being the first children 
baptized in the new church. Lazarus Dietz made a 
deed for the land to Jacob Shuford and Henry Link, 
dated September 2, 1848. 

There have been two church buildings erected. The 
first was small and insufficient, being only 22 by 32 



314 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

feet. For a long time there was no stove in the 
church and the congregation would build a fire in the 
yard and around this they would stand until time for 
the services to begin. 

About the year 1884, during the pastorate of the 
Rev. G. Dickie Gurley, the idea of building a new 
church was conceived, but nothing was done until 
1886, when under the pastorate of Rev. Lewis Reiter 
plans for a new church were adopted and the present 
substantial brick building was erected, of which the 
cornerstone was laid September 8, 1886, Rev. C. B. 
Heller preaching the sermon from Haggai 1: 3, 4, 5. 
The congregation has grown greatly and the present 
building is inadequate to meet the growing demands 
of the congregation. 

The following have served as pastors, but the length 
of the different pastorates cannot now be determined, 
viz.: J. H. Crawford, Jeremiah Ingold, J. C. Clapp and 
J. A. Foil, supply, J. H. Shuford, A. S. Vaughn, A. P. 
Horn, G. D. Gurley, Lewis Reiter, Joseph L. Murphy, 
P. M. Trexler and S. W. Beck. The pastorate of Rev. 
Lewis Reiter began in September, 1885, and ended 
September, 1890. The pastorate of Joseph L. Murphy 
began November, 1890, and ended January, 1903. 
During the summer of 1905, Milton Whitener, a stu- 
dent of theology in the Theological Seminary, Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania, supplied the congregation for 
two months. 

The following have served as official members: 
Elders, Peter Finger, H. W. Link, Peter Rowe, Z. R. 
Whitener, John Robinson, J. S. Whitener, J. E. Wil- 
fong, D. W. Whitener and R. L. Whitener. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 315 

Deacons: J. E. Wilfong, A. Whitener, D. W. White- 
ner, Wm. Abernethy, William Dietz, David Setzer, 
R. L. Whitener and D. H. Whitener. In addition to 
the official members mentioned above, Abel Sigmon, 
Jesse Killian, Jacob Shuford, Henry Whitener, George 
Whitener and others gave character and dignity to 
the membership, as well as proving faithful and con- 
secrated members. This organization has a good 
record. The congregation has given to the church 
one minister, Rev. Julius H. Shuford. Milton White- 
ner was reared in this congregation, but moved into 
another community before he was confirmed. 

Many of the members of this congregation have 
moved into the prosperous town of Hickory and united 
with the Reformed congregation of the town. These 
members have made an impress upon society. 

The church building is situated on the road leading 
from Hickory to Lincolnton, in the midst of a prosper- 
ous community. The members are largely the de- 
scendants of the pioneer Henry Weidner, who settled 
in the South Fork Valley, and with such a sturdy citi- 
zenship, the prospects for the future of the congrega- 
tion are encouraging. 

12. Corinth Reformed Church, Hickory. 

Missions pay. No better evidence of this truth can 
be found in North Carolina than Corinth Church, 
Hickory. 

Among the early settlers at Hickory were Henry W. 
Link and A. L. Shuford. They came in the spring of 



316 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

1860 and, being members of the Reformed Church, 
soon invited the Rev. Jeremiah Ingoid, who was pastor 
of churches in Catawba County, to preach for them. 
No church building being in the village, a stand was 
erected at which services were held during the summer 
months and in the winter services were held at the 
home of Mr. Link. Rev. Ingoid continued to preach 
thus until the stand was burned, after which he 
preached exclusively at the home of Mr. Link, once a 
month in the afternoon, until the free Academy was 
built about the year 1868, by Rev. Jeremiah Ingoid. 

In this building the congregation was organized in 
the year 1869 by Rev. Jeremiah Ingoid. There were 
twenty-one charter members as follows: H. W. Link, 
Catharine Link, Amidus Link, Peter Rowe, Adolphus 
Rowe, Andrew N. Rowe, Martha C. Rowe, Wm. L. 
Ramsaur, Caroline L. Ramsaur, Adolphus Shuford, 
Abel A. Shuford, Abel Whitener, Eliza Whitener, John 
Fry, Emaline D. Fry, Susan Whitener, Henry Fry, 
Isaiah Ingoid, Wm. P. Reinhardt, Mary L. Reinhardt 
and Lovinia Killian. 

After the list of members the following entry is 
made: " After the foregoing list was completed, the 
members proceeded to organize a congregation by 
electing the following officers: Elders, H. W. Link and 
Peter L. Rowe; Deacons, A. A. Shuford and Amidus 
C. Link, who were immediately ordained and installed. 
The election by request was conducted by E. P. 
Coulter." 

The congregation worshiped in the academy build- 
ing until the year 1872, when H. W. Roninson gave a 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 317 

lot of 100 feet front adjoining the academy lot for a 
Reformed Church, and a subscription list was started 
to raise money to build a church. A. L. Shuford, H. W. 
Link and W. P. Reinhardt were appointed a building 
committee. The corner-stone was laid, at which ser- 
vice Rev. G. W. Welker preached the sermon, Rev. 
J. C. Clapp delivered the address and Rev. Jeremiah 
Ingold, pastor, conducted the liturgical services. 
Funds were scarce and the congregation was unwilling 
to assume the expense of a cupola and H. W. Link and 
W. P. Reinhardt personally assumed the cost and the 
cupola was built. The house was a wooden structure 
and was finished, except painting, in the spring of the 
year 1874. 

In 1877 J. F. Murrill was elected Secretary of the 
Consistory and wrote the following relating to the 
congregation: "The town of Hickory is comparatively 
new and the church, recently organized under the pas- 
toral care of Rev. Jeremiah Ingold on missionary 
grounds, became a part of the Grace Charge. The 
congregation though weak both in a numerical and 
pecuniary way, by the encouragement of small contri- 
butions from distant friends and their own unfaltering 
efforts, succeeded in building a house of worship, the 
second in the town." 

Rev. Jeremiah Ingold resigned the charge in 1874 
and Rev. J. H. Shuford, then a student at Ursinus 
College, was called. Rev. Mr. Shuford remained 
pastor for two years. A convention of the Joint 
Consistories of the Grace and Catawba Charges was 
held in the Reformed Church of Newton on Good 



318 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



Friday, 1876, when a proposition to petition Classis 
to divide the ten congregations of the two charges into 
three charges was rejected and an informal arrange- 
ment was made with Revs. Clapp and Foil to supply 
the entire ten congregations. This arrangement con- 
tinued for one year and on Good Friday, 1877, Rev. 
J. A. Foil was called to the pastorate of Grace Charge. 
Dr. Foil preached for this charge for one year, and 
Classis at the annual meeting in 1878 rearranged the 
churches in this part of the Classis so that Corinth was 
made a separate charge and a call for the services of 
Rev. Jeremiah Ingold was confirmed. His time of 
service began June 1, 1878. 

The history of the Corinth congregation has been 
one of frequent changes in pastorates and rearrange- 
ment of charges. The following ministers have served 
the congregation, either as pastor or supply: Jeremiah 
Ingold, D.D., 1860-1874; J. H. Shuford, 1874-1876; 
J. C. Clapp and J. A. Foil (supply), 1876; J. A. Foil, 
1877; J. Ingold, 1878-1881; A. S. Vaughn, 1881-1883; 
A. P. Horn, 1883-1884; G. D. Gurley (supply), 1884- 
1885; Lewis Reiter, 1885-1890; Joseph L. Murphy 
became pastor of the charge November, 1890, and is 
still in charge of the work at this writing. 

The following persons have held the office of Elder : 
H. W. Link, Peter Rowe, W. P. Reinhardt, J. F. Mur- 
rffl, F. D. Ingold, J. W. Robinson, J. M. Shuford, J. L. 
Ingold, L. R. Whitener, C. C. Bost, J. C. Fry and G. LI. 
Geitner. The Deacons have been as follows: A. A. 
Shuford, A. C. Link, J. C. Fry, C. C. Bost, M. M. Bost, 
J. F. Abernethy and S. L. Whitener. J. F. Murrill 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 319 

was elected Secretary of the Consistory and held the 
office continuously until November 26, 1888. C. C. 
Bost was elected his successor and holds the place at 
the present time. 

The first church building was burned on March 26, 
1887. The congregation being left without a place of 
worship, the use of the Presbyterian Church was kindly 
tendered, which offer was accepted and service was 
held here until the present church building was com- 
pleted in the year 1887. The dedication services were 
not held for some reason until June 29, 1890. The 
sermon was preached by the Rev. P. M. Trexler, D.D., 
and the dedication conducted by the Rev. Lewis 
Reiter, pastor. Revs. C. B. Heller, Paul Barringer, 
J. Ingold, J. A. Foil and J. L. Murphy were present 
and took part in the services. 

The congregation has taken much interest in educa- 
tion and especially the education of the girls of the 
church. At a meeting of the Consistory held in the 
home of Mrs. Livinia Wilfong April 24, 1880, she 
stated that she had the promise from Mr. and Mrs. 
H. W. Robinson of a part of the "Old Hickory 
Tavern Lot" as a donation for a new church. This 
was accepted and a motion carried that a new church 
be built and that the present church be converted into 
a school building for girls. It was also moved that a 
competent lady teacher be employed to co-operate 
with the Messrs. Blair and Ivey, who were then con- 
ducting a mixed school in part of the church building. 
This was the beginning of Claremont College, for on 
the 10th day of July, 1880, the Consistory met at the 



320 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



home of Mr. A. L. Shuford for the purpose of consider- 
ing a proposition from Rev. A. S. Vaughn to return to 
North Carolina and build up a female school of high 
grade in the town of Hickory. At a meeting of the 
Consistory held in August of the same year Rev. Mr. 
Vaughn appeared before the Consistory and spoke 
freely and fulry in favor of the enterprise, and his 
desire to spend the remainder of his days in the cause 
of Christ and female education. At this meeting a 
committee of arrangements made a report. This com- 
mittee consisted of the following persons : J. F. Murrill, 
A. L. Shuford, A. A. Shuford, A. C. Link, Rev. J. 
Ingold, W. P. Reinhardt, M. L. McCorkle, S. T. Wil- 
fong and J. W. Robinson. Six others making fifteen 
in all were to be chosen from other denominations as 
provided in the charter. We note the fact that the 
conception of the school was in the Consistory, that it 
was the Consistory that invited Rev. Mr. Vaughn to 
North Carolina, that the plan of arrangement was 
reported to the Consistory and that three-fifths of 
the Trustees must be members of the Reformed 
Church. This is important as it shows the relation of 
the school to the church. It is safe to say that Clare- 
mont College owes its existence to Corinth congrega- 
tion. The Consistory has continued to fill vacancies 
in the Board of Trustees as such vacancies have oc- 
curred from time to time. 

In the spring of 1901 this congregation began 
mission work at the Brookford Mills, a cotton mill 
community two miles from the town of Hickory. A 
nice chapel was built and the first service was held in 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 321 



it on May 12, 1901, but on the 16th the building was 
struck by lightning and burned. The house was re- 
built and dedicated on the 3d of November, 1901, 
Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D., preaching the sermon. The 
entire cost of the two buildings was borne by the Cor- 
inth congregation and the building belongs to this 
congregation. The building committee was A. A. 
Shuford, L. R. Whitener, S. L. Whitener, G. H. Geitner, 
J. F. Abernethy and Rev. J. L. Murphy. The work is 
under the care of the pastor of Hickory Church. Re- 
cently a congregation (March 5, 1905,) has been or- 
ganized at Brookford and has now about twenty-two 
members. 

The membership of Corinth congregation is of a 
very substantial class of citizens. They are prominent 
in matters of Church and State. A. A. Shuford has 
held the office of Deacon for thirty-six years and is 
still faithful in the discharge of his duties. Rev. W. W. 
Rowe, the pastor of the East Rowan Charge, was reared 
in this congregation, and Dr. Paul Ingold Murrill of 
London still holds his membership at this place. The 
congregation has been prosperous during the last few 
years and has a membership of two hundred and four. 
The congregation has outgrown the present building 
and will soon consider the erection of a new church. 

13. ML Bethel Reformed Church, Blowing Rock. 

As early as 1882 and 1883 several families of Re- 
formed people moved from Rowan County and else- 
where to the mountains of Watauga County and located 
in the vicinity of Blowing Rock. This section has 



322 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



since become a famous resort, visited annually by 
hundreds of people. Rev. John Ingle visited this 
settlement in December, 1882, and while there he 
preached at the residence of Mr. Jacob Kluttz. In 
April of the following year Mr. Ingle moved his family 
to Blowing Rock and made the place his permanent 
home. He at once began to hold services in a school- 
house at the location of the present village and organ- 
ized a Sunday School. At the meeting of Classis in 
1884 the Rev. Mr. Ingle called the attention of Classis 
to this mountain section as a desirable mission field. 
He was authorized to organize a congregation to be 
called the "Watauga Mission." At the same time he 
was instructed to secure the assistance of one of the 
nearest ministers. The church was organized the 
fourth Sunday in July, 1886, by Revs. J. C. Clapp and 
John Ingle in a building called the "Estes school- 
house. " The officers were Jacob Kluttz and George 
Thomason, Elders, and S. E. Bollinger and D. F. 
Trexler, Deacons. The following names were en- 
rolled: James Holshouser, Mrs. Eliza Jane Holshouser, 
Mrs. Sallie Holshouser, Jacob Kluttz, Mrs. Mary L. 
Lentz, Crawford A. L. Holshouser, David F. Trexler, 
Mrs. Mary Trexler, W. C. Lentz, Mrs. S. R. Lentz, 
Mrs. Mary A. Ingle, Thornton Ingle, Minnie E. Kluttz, 
George Thomason, S. L. Bollinger and Mrs. Martha J. 
Bollinger. The church was dedicated the first Sunday 
in November, 1894. The sermon was preached by 
Rev. J. L. Murphy. 

This congregation has been irregularly supplied 
from year to year by the following ministers: Revs. 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 



323 



John Ingle, J. C. Clapp, Lewis Reiter, P. M. Trexler, 
J. L. Murphy, J. A. Foil, H. E. Sechler and possibly 
others. Since October, 1903, it has had the regular 
pastoral care of Rev. W. H. McNairy, the missionary 
at Lenoir, who goes to Blowing Rock once each month. 

14. Memorial Reformed Church, Maiden. 

One of the young and influential congregations of 
Classis is the Memorial Reformed Church at Maiden. 
The town of Maiden is a monument to the enterprise 
and business tact of Franklin Carpenter and his sons, 
L. A. and D. M. Carpenter, who laid out the town and 
embarked in the cotton mill industry, beginning work 
on the first mill in 1881, which turned its first spindle 
in April, 1883. 

At that time there were only six residence houses 
within the corporate limits of the town, with but 
twenty-five or thirty inhabitants. 

The building in which the first services were held 
was an old store building belonging to Franklin Car- 
penter, Sons & Co., and stood at the corner where 
Newton Street intersects Main Street. Rev. J. L. 
Murphy, D.D., has the honor of delivering the first 
sermon ever preached in Maiden, though Rev. J. C. 
Clapp, D.D., of Newton, and Elder Murrill of Hickory 
had made several temperance speeches previously. 
After this store building was removed services were 
held in the public school building. 

On Sunday, September 19, 1886, Rev. J. L. Murphy, 
pastor of the Lincoln Charge, assisted by Rev. J. C. 
Clapp, D.D., began a series of meetings which contin- 



324 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

ued until Thursday night, September 23d, when a 
congregation of 29 was organized, 12 of whom were 
received by confirmation and 17 by certificate from 
St. Matthew's. 

This new Reformed organization being the only 
church in the village and the Reformed pastor having 
the field all to himself, the growth from the beginning 
was remarkable, so that at the close of Rev. Murphy's 
pastorate in 1890 the membership was 112. The 
character of the membership of necessity made the 
permanency of the congregation a little uncertain. 
The factory element soon moved away; others came 
in, and other denominations built churches, and these 
denominations being more in harmony with the former 
church life of these people, the factory people naturally 
drifted into these churches, so that by 1906 the number 
was only 119, notwithstanding the fact that 43 mem- 
bers were received during the short pastorate of Rev. 
C. B. Heller. 

The church building was erected in memory of 
Perry Albert Carpenter, the junior member of the 
firm of Franklin Carpenter, Sons & Co., who died 
July 9, 1886. He was a most exemplary young man, 
industrious, pious, consecrated. He loved his church 
and was anxious to do some special work for her. 
To his memory the Carpenters decided to erect a sub- 
stantial brick church building; hence the name, 
" Memorial Church." The building was begun July 
25, 1887, and the first service held in it April 8, 1888. 
The first Communion was held May 13, 1888. The 
church was dedicated September 16, 1888, the sermon 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 325 



being preached by Rev. G. W. Welker, D.D., from 
Haggai 2:7: "I will fill this house with glory." 

For the building of the church, D. M. Carpenter 
furnished the brick; P. J. Kluttz, M.D., paid for haul- 
ing the brick; L. A. Carpenter paid for putting up the 
walls ; J. P. Rabb gave twenty-five dollars. The re- 
mainder of the expense, amounting to about six 
hundred dollars, was contributed by Franklin Car- 
penter. The contractor was Salathial Bolick. The 
new congregation was constituted a part of the Lincoln 
Charge, and a parsonage was built and completed a 
short time previous to the erection of the church. The 
ground connected with the church and parsonage con- 
sists of two acres, towards the cost of which, including 
parsonage, Franklin Carpenter paid one thousand 
dollars. Each of the four congregations constituting 
the charge, Memorial, Matthew's, Salem and Daniel's, 
holds one-fourth interest in the parsonage and land. 
The pastors have been those mentioned in connection 
with Matthew's Church beginning with Rev. J. L. 
Murphy. 

North Carolina Classis met in this church in 1890. 
Rev. P. M. Trexler, D.D., President. 

The family names now appearing on the church 
roll at Maiden are as follows: Carpenter, Boyd, Hols- 
houser, Lattimore, Bolick, Setzer, Maginnis, Cook. 
Taylor, Ramsaur, Deal (Diehl), Finger, Kluttz, Gall, 
Williams, Correll, Costner, Ikerd, Starr, Beard, All- 
good, Sigmon, Whitener (Weidner), Harris, Foil, 
Rogers, Bumgarner (Baumgartner), Hartsoe and 
Josey. 



326 The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 

15. Trinity Reformed Church, Conover. 

This congregation was organized by Rev. J. C. Clapp, 
D.D., August 20, 1892. Most of the members were 
transferred from St. John's Reformed Church. They 
built a neat and substantial brick church almost wholly 
without outside help, after having contributed their 
share to the large union church at St. John's. 

The congregation has been served by Revs. Dr. J. C. 
Clapp from its organization until about 1893; H. A. M. 
Holshouser, from 1894 to 1897; Rev. Riedesel, from 
1898 to 1900; Henry Sechler from August 1, 1901, to 
August 1, 1902; Samuel W. Beck from October 1, 1902, 
to May, 1905; Milton Whitener since September 1, 
1906, when the Catawba Charge gave St. Paul's con- 
gregation to the new South Fork Charge, and was 
enrolled as a mission under the Board of Home Missions. 

16. Zion's Reformed Church, Lenoir. 

In the year 1893 Mr. J. P. Rabb moved his family 
from Maiden, Catawba County, to Lenoir, Caldwell 
County. In the same year Mr. C. H. A. Rupp, a mem- 
ber of a Reformed Church in Lehigh County, Penn- 
sylvania, located in Lenoir and entered into business. 
A little later G. R. Boyd, J. F. Bost and J. J. Gall, all 
members of the Reformed Church, took up their resi- 
dence in Lenoir. Their love for the church of their 
fathers would not allow them to enter another denom- 
ination. But they also saw that it was an auspicious 
time for the Reformed Church to establish a mission 
in Lenoir. Rev. J. L. Murphy visited them Novem- 
ber 30, 1896, and preached for them. The following 



The Reformed Church in North Carolina. 327 



spring they asked Classis to provide preaching for 
them at least once a month. The Rev. Mr. Murphy 
was instructed to take into his care the interest of the 
Reformed people at Lenoir and organize a congrega- 
tion if it seemed advisable. He was also to have the 
assistance of the ministers teaching in Catawba Col- 
lege. Services were held regularly in Mary's Chapel 
about a mile and a half out of town. May 8, 1898, a 
congregation was organized by Rev. P. M. Trexler, 
D.D., with the following members: J. P. Rabb, Mrs. 
S. A. Rabb, I. G. Rabb, J. P. Rabb, Jr., George F. 
Thomason, Mrs. George F. Thomason, G. R. Boyd, 

C. H. A. Rupp and John F. Bost. J. P. Rabb and 
George F. Thomason were elected Elders, and C. H. A. 
Rupp and G. R. Boyd, Deacons. At the meeting of 
Classis soon afterwards the interest of the new congre- 
gation was committed to Rev. Dr. Trexler. 

A congregational meeting was held January 8, 1902, 
when it was decided to build a church in town. A lot 
was purchased on College Avenue. Rev. J. C. Clapp, 

D. D., held the first service in the new church May 10, 
1903. The house of worship is a neat frame building 
costing a little over sixteen hundred dollars, and was 
dedicated August 9, 1903, the sermon being preached 
by Rev. J. C. Clapp, D.D. Rev. J. L. Murphy, D.D., 
conducted the service of dedication. The ministers 
already named served the congregation from the first 
of its history until October, 1903, when it was enrolled 
by the Board of Missions. Rev. W. H. McNairy was 
commissioned as pastor, and this relation continues to 
the present time. 



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